Buck to the Future
by Ryu
Summary: When Rainbow Dash accidentally travels back to her parents time, she tries to fix what was messed up, and save Twilight from a death involving Goblin terrorists. Oh, and Pinkie Pie is there too. COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro...but I'm sure you already knew that :P.

Anywho, I'm no stranger to the world of fanfiction, but the last time I wrote one was December of 2005...yeah, about 6 years. I probably would've gone on longer if I didn't get into this pony craze :P. So I thought I would give fanfiction another try. Anyways, please bear with me, as I try to get back into the writing groove, so to speak. I'll start with a good ol' parody to get the creative juices flowing. It won't be a total parody, though. After all, I have to keep it in the pony universe, as well as keep everyone in-character. Also, if the format kinda sucks to you, keep in mind that I was using TinyWord, and had to save it in Rtf. Well, I've wasted enough of your time, so let's get started.

Buck to the Future

Chapter 1

It was a quiet early morning, and we pan in to the inside of Twilight Sparkles tree house. The young mare and her assistant dragon were nowhere to be seen. All that was present were several strange contraptions. Clocks, toasters, coffee makers, televisions, you name it. For reasons still unknown to us, they were all set up to activate at a certain time. Suddenly, one by one, each machine, one by one, started its own unique wake-up call. As the sounds grew in unison, they became louder. Strange enough, there was still nopony or dragon to be seen.

That's when there was a knock on the door. It was the rainbow maned Pegasus, Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle had called her yesterday to ask for some help in one of her latest experiments. Normally the rainbow mare would make an excuse and avoid one of her crazy magic experiments. However, she fell for the old flattery trick. She was told that in order for this experiment to work, she would need the fastest pony in all of Equestria, and there's nopony that fits the bill better than Rainbow Dash.

In hindsight, Rainbow Dash was regretting falling for such an obvious trick. It was too late now, though. She had already promised to help, and couldn't back out now. Her element of Harmony was loyalty, after all.

After much knocking and calling, she decided to let herself in. She wasn't about to waste her day just waiting. Her idea was to wake up the sleeping pony. That is, if she was sleeping.

"Hey Twilight?" she called out as she opened the door. She then stepped in. "Twilight! Hello? Anypony home?" She then decided to call Spike. "Spike, come here!" She looked around with a slightly confused expression as she looked around the machine filled room and it's somewhat annoying sounds. "What's goin on-" Her pondering was cut short by an awful smell. "Geez! That is disgusting!" she said as she held her nose with her wing. " She's normally messy, but not like this! Just where the hay are they?"

As she looked around wondering what had gotten into her brainy friend, she noticed something interesting. It was some kind of sound amplifier. It was similar to the ones used by professional ponies when having one of their fancy shows. She didn't particularly care for those things, but the beats they gave out were always pretty cool. She then noticed a guitar. Strange enough, it was designed so that anypony could use it, not just unicorns or ponies that learned how to pluck the strings with their hooves. Now getting excited, she looked around to make sure nopony saw her, and picked it up. She then plugged it into the sound amplifier.

"This is gonna be so cool!" She thought to herself. "Wait. This needs to be extra cool. 20% cooler, actually." She then flicked the switches on the amplifier, maxing out the potential volume. "Hehehe. Here we go." She then attached the guitar pick to her horseshoe, and struck the first note.

Obviously, this wasn't a wise move, as the pressure from the amplifier caused her to fly off her hooves, and into Twilights book case, knocking all the books on top of her. As she slowly got up from the rubble of books and scrolls, she gazed at the now broken sound amplifier.

"Whoa." she said. "That was awesome." Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing noise. Rainbow Dash frantically got up to see where it was coming from. It was then that Twilight Sparkles other assistant, Owlowiscious, came flying in through the now open window. He had a buzzer around his neck, which triggered as a device to let himself in. He was also carrying a scroll.

"So what'cha got there?" she asked.

"Who." replied the owl.

"You. Duh."

"Who."

"I don't have time to play your stupid games! Now where's Twilight Sparkle and Spike?"

"Who."

"My purple friends, who else?" Rainbow Dash answered as she rolled her eyes.

"Who."

"Just give me that!" she exclaimed as she snatched the scroll from the owls beak. "Stupid bird." she muttered. She began to read the scroll aloud.

"Dear Rainbow Dash. Sorry about not being here when I was supposed to. A big emergency came up, and Spike and I had to attend to it right away. Also, sorry about the mess. I was trying to find a way to mix unicorn magic with goblin technology. Long story, I'll tell you about it later. Anyway, I made a major breakthrough in one of my experiments, and I'll need your assistance. This is hush-hush, so don't tell anyone."

Rainbow Dash grinned at the thought that her pony friend would actually have a secret of her own. "Twilight Sparkle? Having a secret? Ha! Well this is gonna be fun!"

"So long as you don't tell anyone." Chimed in a bubbly voice, causing the Pegasus to almost jump through the ceiling.

"Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed, turning to face the pink pony, who was smiling cheerfully the whole time. "Don't do that! What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well," she started. "I was skipping down the street humming this really catchy tune about power and love. Then all of a sudden, I got a twitch. My tail was shaking, which could only mean something was falling. I didn't have my umbrella hat with me, so I ran towards Twilights house. The door was already open, so I let myself in, hoping to avoid falling objects. Then I saw you, and you were like 'here we go', and I was like, 'this isn't gonna end well', so I hid in the kitchen. Then there was this loud noise..."

Rainbow Dash groaned to herself, eyes narrowed. She didn't ask for so much detail, and was regretting ever asking the hyperactive pony anything at all. She then silently read the rest of the letter.

"(Meet me at the edge of the Everfree forest at 1:15am.)". Rainbow Dash groaned, dreading to have to be awake that late at night. "(Thank you again for helping me with this urgent project. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle. P.S., If I know Pinkie Pie like I think I know her, she's probably about to have another twitch due to my experiment to have all the appliances activate and then shut down at the precise time I set them to. Or blow a fuse. I forget which. Tell her not to worry.)"

Rainbow Dash put the scroll down, and looked at Pinkie Pie, who was just wrapping up her long description to one simple question.

"...and then that's how I ended up here talking to you." she then caught her breath for a few seconds, panting quickly. "Wow. That was a mouthful." Suddenly, her nose started to twitch. "Uh-oh! My nose is twitching in a vertical motion. This either means a loud noise is coming up, or I'm about to experience a big sneeze."

Just then, the machines that were set up blew a fuse in near-unison, some catching fire, which Owlowiscious promptly put out with a nearby fire extinguisher.

"Just what was the point of that?" Rainbow Dash asked aloud. "They technically didn't go off at the exact time."

"Tell me about it." Pinkie Pie added. "That clock is 25 minutes slow. It's no wonder the machines couldn't get the time right."

The rainbow Pegasus' eyes nearly bulged out. "D-did you say that clock is 25 minutes slow?" She then frantically made her way to the door. "I'm late for my first audition! The Wonderbolts were so impressed by that last air show, they wanted to see if I was capable of repeating the sonic rainboom!" She then turned towards Pinkie Pies direction. "Lock up Twilights place for me! I gotta go!" And with that, she zoomed out of sight, leaving the pink pony alone with Twilights other assistant. However, instead of locking up, she ran towards her friends direction, singing a song (The Power of Love) as she ran.

"The power of love is a curious thing

Make a one colt weep, make another colt sing

Change a hawk to a little white dove

More than a feeling that's the power of love

You don't need bits, don't take fame

Don't need no credit card to ride this train

It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes

But it might just save your life

That's the power of love

That's the power of love

Can you feel it ?"

Rainbow Dash ignored the background singing, and jetted to the clouds, past the other sky buildings, and to the entrance to where the auditions were being held. For some reason, the audition was being held at her parents old school. Fluttershy was waiting for her at the steps.

"Hey, Fluttershy." she greeted to her friend.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash." she meekly replied. "I-I wouldn't go this way. You're already late, and there's this other pony there who looks really mean. I think he might be one of the judges."

"Don't worry about me." the Pegasus answered cooly. "As long as the Wonderbolts are impressed, this other pony shouldn't be any problem."

"Oh I hope you're right." she then opened the door. "H-hurry now."

The two Pegasi quickly and quietly sped through the halls to reach the entrance to the bleachers. When they finally reached the double doors that awaited the audition, Rainbow Dash extended her hoof to open the door, but Fluttershy stopped him.

"Wait." she said. "Do you have a good excuse? It would be really really bad if you were late without a good reason."

"Of course I do." Rainbow Dash answered with confidence. "You see, it wasn't actually my fault. Twilight had the clocks set 25 minutes late, and-"

Suddenly, she was interrupted by the door opening by itself. It was an older looking Pegasus, with a white coat, grey tail, and no mane.

"Rainbow Dash, I presume?" The bald Pegasus asked rhetorically. "I don't know who this Twilight is, but it's still no excuse for tardiness." He then glared at Fluttershy, who quickly hid behind Rainbow Dash. "As for you, shouldn't you be in class somewhere?"

"Well, you see," Fluttershy started to explain, "I'm too old to be a student, and", but was interrupted by the louder Pegasus.

"Don't give me your excuses, young lady! Now get out of here before you get in bigger trouble!"

Scared witless, the pink maned Pegasus ran out of the building as fast as her hooves could take her. The bald pony then led Rainbow Dash through the doors.

"Now let me give you a bits worth of free advice." he started. "Tardiness is a sign of slackers. And I may not know you personally, although you have a familiar aura about you. But if I had to go on first impressions, I'd say you were a slacker!"

"I'm anything but!" she protested. "I worked my flank off perfecting my flying skills! And thanks for scaring off my only cheerleader!"

"You got a real mouth on you, slacker!" then something dawned on him. "Now I know who you remind me of. You remind me of your mother, and she was a slacker too."

"Can I go now? I'd rather not lose my chance to become a member of the Wonderbolts, just because I kicked your teeth in for insulting my mom!"

"About that. According to her permanent record, she never really amounted to much, and neither will you, so why are you even bothering?"

This made Rainbow Dash glare at the pony, fire in her eyes.

"You just crossed the line, mister. I'm no longer responsible for what's about to happen to you!"

Just then, a blue Pegasus by the name of Soarin, also known for being a Wonderbolt member, jumped between them.

"There won't be any of that." he stated. Then turned towards Rainbow Dash. "While it wasn't a good idea being late, you didn't keep us too long." then he turned towards the older pony. "As for you, scolding is one thing, but that was just uncalled for!"

"I'm sorry." the bald pony said, his head down. "It's just that I get so frustrated by hooligans who think the rules of proper etiquette don't apply to them." he then cleared his throat. "Anyway, thank you again for raising the schools reputation by having the audition here. Shall we commence with the audition?"

Just then, Pinkie Pie, along with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack, rose above the bleacher stadium, riding a hot air balloon. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to ask how she got the balloon and Fluttershy over here so quickly, but then quickly decided against it, not wanting to hear another tiresome story.

"You made it!" she said excitedly. "But, where's Twilight?"

Pinkie Pie hung her head low. "She left a note apologizing that she couldn't make it. It was under the other note that she left. You know, the one-" she then quickly shut her own mouth with her front hooves. "Oops! Almost spilled the beans!"

"What are you going on about, Pinkie?" asked Applejack. "Where's Twilight?"

The pink pony shook her head fiercely. "Nope! She wanted to keep it a secret. Only Rainbow Dash was supposed to know."

"Then how in the hay did you come about knowing that secret?"

"Well," she started, "it began when I went-" her mouth was quickly shut by Rarity's hoof.

"Enough, darling." she interrupted. "I have a headache right now, and only came to support our dear friend. I'm sure Twilight had a good reason for not letting the rest of us know, but since she was kind enough to keep my secret, I'm going to do her the honor of allowing her to keep hers."

"Well at least tell us she's alright." Applejack added.

"Of course." Pinkie Pie answered.

"Um, if you girls don't mind," Fluttershy stammered, "perhaps, well, we could watch Rainbow Dash's audition? It is her day. If that's okay with everyone."

The girls quickly turned their attention to their rainbow maned friend, who was already on the starting point, getting ready for her big moment. The other ponies immediately started cheering her on, despite it not starting yet. Rainbow Dash gave them a wave, and then put her focus back on the track.

"Now before you begin," the bald pony started, "in order to qualify, you must perform the following feats; fly through every cloud ring, fly through a rain cloud fast enough to avoid getting wet, perform three air loops and four barrel rolls, and then finish it off with the signature sonic rainboom. That is, if you think you're good enough for the Wonderbolts."

"Not only am I good enough, but I'll beat it in record time!"

"Well let's see if your performance is as good as your bravado. Now...GO!"

And with that, and true to her namesake, Rainbow Dash sped towards the obstacle course in a blinding speed, using the cheering of her pony friends as fuel. Within two seconds flat, she went through every cloud ring, and in half a second, dashed through the rain cloud, all without one drop of water on her. She quickly completed the three loops, as well as the four barrel rolls. Finally, she gained momentum for the final move; the sonic rainboom.

She quickly flew to the sky, made a quick u-turn without braking, and sped downwards to complete her move. Sure enough, and to everyones amazement, she sped right back up to the sky, creating the awesome rainbow she had made on only two occasions. Her friends cheered wildly as she made her landing right in front of the Wonderbolts, who gave her a standing ovation. The bald pony, almost speechless, managed to close his gaping jaw, and approached the rainbow-maned pony he has previously thought so little of.

"That was unbelievable." he said. "I take back what I said about you being a slacker. If your mother had the same kind of passion for flying that you do, why, you'd be known as the daughter of the fastest pony who ever lived. Instead, I shall refer to you as Rainbow Dash, new member of the Wonderbolts." he then turned towards said group. "That is, if you'll have her."

Soarin nodded. "Of course. She has proven to be, without a doubt, very impressive." he then turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Welcome to the group. Your training starts first thing next week."

Unable to contain her excitement, Rainbow Dash cheered wildly, each hugging the Wonderbolt members, then racing towards her friends, tackling them from their airborne contraption.

"IdiditIdiditIdidit!" she cried in excitement. "I'm now a member of the Wonderbolts! My lifelong dream has come true!"

"Congratulations, Dash!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "I knew you could do it!"

"Never doubted ya for a second." Applejack added.

"Please! Was there ever any doubt to begin with?" Rarity added.

"I'm so proud of you." Fluttershy said politely. "So what now?"

"Well whatever it is," Soarin started, "you only have a week to do it. The Wonderbolt training regime is no laughing matter. We only expect the best from the best of the best."

With this, Rainbow Dash gave a respectful salute, whom the Wonderbolts gave a respectful salute in return. After that, the Wonderbolts took to the skies, got in formation and quickly dashed out of sight, leaving the bald pony to clean up the wreck the pressure of their lift off had created.

"Let's go to my place and have a victory party!" Pinkie Pie said all of a sudden.

"Good idea." Rainbow Dash replied. "But you guys go on ahead. I gotta go visit my parents, and tell them the great news."

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie! It won't be ready until this evening, so you got time. Just don't take too long. It's not a victory party without the victor, or something like that."

"I won't. See ya guys later!"

And with that, she sped toward the direction of her parents home. Pinkie Pie started singing the rest of the song she sang earlier, ignoring the awkward stares from her other friends.

"That's the power of love

That's the power of love

First time you feel it

It might make you sad

Next time you feel it

It might make you mad

But you'll be glad, baby

When you've found

That's the power

Makes the world go round

And it don't take bits

Don't take fame

Don't need no credit card to ride this train

It's strong and it's sudden

It can be cruel sometimes

But it might just save your life"

"How can her voice project that far?" Rainbow Dash pondered to herself as she landed in front of her parents home. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the family carriage being towed away.

"Perfect. Just perfect." she groaned as she was about to knock on the door. Noticing it was already open, she just let herself in, briefly slowing her steps to hear a female voice in the living room. She looked at the pony whose voice it belonged to. It was a female Pegasus, about the age of her parents. She was a blue pony wearing a dark blue coat and had a white mane. She was giving some lecture to her mother.

"I can't believe you loan me your carriage," the pony was saying, "without tellin' me it had a blind spot. I could've been killed!"

Rainbow Dash's mother, who was a turquoise Pegasus with a purple mane, started to speak, somewhat tripping over her words.

"N-now, Tiff, I never noticed th-that the carriage had any blind spot b-before when I would ride it." she quickly turned towards her daughter. "Hi, Dash." she greeted rather embarrassingly, who was given an eye roll in response.

"What are you, blind, Dash?" Tiff continued with her berating as Rainbow Dash looked on in disgust, wondering why her own mother, the one who birthed her, could be so spineless. "How else do you explain that wreck out there?"

"N-now Tiff, c-can I assume that your, uh, insurance is going to pay for the damage?"

"My insurance?" she replied with irritation. "It's your carriage! Your insurance should pay for it! I want to know who's gonna pay for this?" she motioned at the stain on her coat. "I spilled fermented berry juice all over it when I was smashed into. Who's gonna pay my cleaning bill?"

"Um..."

"And where's my reports?"

"Well, um, I haven't finished those up yet, but I figured since they weren't due until-"

Tiff sighed, lowered the timid pony's head, and began literally knocking on it.

"Hello? Hello? Anypony home? Huh?" then she stopped and looked directly at her. "Think, Dash. Think! I gotta have time to get 'em retyped. Do you realize what would happen if I hand in my reports with your quill-writing? I'll get fired."

"(So let her!)" Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She hated how whenever this pony would come and visit, she would harass and take advantage of her mother. One time, she couldn't take watching the abuse go on any further, so she beat the living daylights out of her mother's bully. Unfortunately, Tiff found a good lawyer, and managed to sue her for bodily harm. With the whole recently joining the Wonderbolts, she couldn't afford to mess anything up.

"You wouldn't want that to happen, now would ya?"

"(Oh we wouldn't want that, now would we)?"

"O-of course not." Mrs. Dash stammered. "I wouldn't want that to happen. Now I'll, um, finish up those reports tonight, and I'll fly them over to you first thing tomorrow."

"All right. Not too early, though. I sleep in on Saturdays." she then trotted over to the refrigerator, and helped herself to a fermented berry drink. "Wow, I go through the trouble of having your carriage towed all the way to your house, and all you got for me is lightly fermented?" she gave a light chuckle as she finished her drink, and walked toward the door. Rainbow Dash shot her a glare, which she in turn stared awkwardly.

"What are you lookin' at, flank-head?" she asked rhetorically.

"Not much." Rainbow Dash answered with a glare. "And another lawsuit is looking pretty tempting right now."

Tiff looked a little nervous for a second, then just scoffed. "Whatever. Say hello to your father for me." then she left in a huff.

Mrs. Dash, feeling rather embarrassed about her daughter witnessing what just happened, walked towards her, head downcast.

"I know what you're going to say, Rainbow, and you're right. But uh, Tiff just happens to be my supervisor, and I'm afraid I'm just not very good at...confrontations."

This made the colorful Pegasus sigh in annoyance. "But the carriage, mom. I mean, she wrecked it! Totaled it! You were gonna let me borrow it tomorrow. I mean, do you have any idea how important this was to me? I was going to take my friends joy-flying in a victory celebration."

"I know, and all I can say is I'm...I'm sorry." the last part was said with a partial tear coming out of her eye.

Just then, a male Pegasus entered the house. He was turquoise, but had a brown mane.

"Um, I couldn't help but notice that the carriage is totaled." he said. "Honey? You let Tiff borrow it, didn't you?"

She silently nodded.

"Now honey I told you several times. If you don't stand up for yourself, she's just gonna keep trampling all over you."

"I-I know, and I'm sorry."

"Well it's okay. You'll get the hang of it one day." he then turned his attention towards their daughter. "Hi, Rainbow. What brings you here this not-so-fine day?"

"I have some great news! I made the-"

"Hold that thought." he interrupted. "If it's great news, we certainly must hear it over a nice dinner."

"Well I am kinda hungry."

"Then it's settled. Let's eat!"

After much time has passed, Rainbow Dash, Mr. Dash, and Mrs. Dash were sitting at the table enjoying some Daffodil sandwiches, hay fries, and apple juice.

"So what's the big news?" Mr. Dash asked.

"Get this." Rainbow Dash started. "Today I was auditioning to join the Wonderbolts...and I got in!"

Both parents cheered upon hearing this.

"Way to go." said Mrs. Dash.

"That's my filly!" added Mr. Dash. "So when do you start?"

"Sometime next week. At least, that's when training starts."

"By the way," Mrs. Dash started, "while you and your father were outside fixing the carriage, and I was inside preparing dinner, you got a call from one of your friends. Fluttershy, I think it was. She said that your party is going to have to be postponed until tomorrow. Something about Pinkie overdoing it."

"Sounds like something Pinkie would do." Rainbow Dash replied. She knew her friend loved parties, and always goes to great lengths to throw one. She should've known better that throwing one at such short notice would take some extra planning. "Oh well. I had some business to take care of anyways."

"That reminds me." Mr. Dash suddenly said. "When are you going to bring Fluttershy over for dinner? She sounds like a nice filly, and we'd like to see what it is about her that's grabbed your affection."

This made Rainbow Dash's eyes narrow. "For Celestia's sake, dad, not this again! Fluttershy is not my girlfriend! And despite what you may think of tom-ponies, I'm not like that!"

"Oh, Rainbow. Always with the tough pony act. Been like that since you were little."

"Just because I'm not all girly, like mom, doesn't mean I don't like colts! I'm just not interested in a relationship, that's all!"

"Speaking of relationships," Mrs. Dash started to say, hoping to derail the subject, "I'll never forget the time back in high school when I met your father."

"You mean when grandpa accidentally hit you with a carriage, causing you to fly through the closed window?" Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes giving a roll. "Not exactly a fond memory."

"It was meant to be." she answered matter-of-factly. "Anyway, if your grandpa hadn't sent me crashing through that window, I would've never met your father face to face, and you wouldn't be born."

"Yeah...well...I still don't understand what you were doing in the middle of a fly zone."

"Yeah, I remember that." Mr. Dash added. "What was it you said you were doing? Bird watching?"

"Um, uh, what? Uh, yeah."

"Anyway," Rainbow Dash interrupted, hoping to conclude this family gathering. She had planned to get a bit of sleep before having to meet Twilight Sparkle in the middle of nowhere, and in the middle of the night. "let me just wrap this up. grandpa hit mom with a carriage and sent her through dads window. Dad nursed her back to health, but instantly fell in love. Long story short, you two hit it off, danced at the prom, blah blah blah, and bam! You have a family."

"Ah, the enchantment over the sky dance." Mr. Dash fondly remembered. "I'll never forget it. It was the night of that terrible thunderstorm. Somepony must've thought it was a good idea to literally rain on someone's parade. Your mother kissed me for the very first time on that dance floor. It was then that I realized that I was gonna spend the rest of my life with her."

"Yeah." Mrs. Dash agreed. "Maybe you'll one day find that colt of your dreams as well, Dash."

"Or mare." Mr. Dash added. "Either way, we'll be proud of you."

"That's it, I'm outta here!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in complete annoyance. "I gotta get some sleep anyways. Twilight has some crazy experiment she wants me to help her with, and it apparently can't wait until tomorrow."

"Well you be careful." Mr. Dash said. "You're a tough filly, but who knows what strange things happen late at night."

"I know." then she kissed both parents on the forehead. "It was nice seeing you again. Gotta go."

"You too." said Mrs. Dash. "And again, congratulations on getting accepted into the Wonderbolts."

And with that, Rainbow Dash exited the door and flew back home.

End of chapter 1.

Well, what do you think so far? I hope I did both franchises justice, all while keeping it different enough to be entertaining. I'll post the second chapter whenever I can get around to it. Life keeps me busy, and fanfiction is a secret hobby of mine, so I only write it when no one is around :P.

Anyways, I hope you look forward to chapter 2.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the feedback. I'll try to improve with this chapter on what I didn't with the first chapter. Onto the story, now with 20% more ponies!

Buck to the Future  
>Chapter 2<p>

Rainbow Dash had arrived at the Edge of the EverFree forest, as Twilight Sparkle had instructed. The place was normally quiet and empty, but there was something about the night sky, the lack of light when looking towards the dark patches the forest itself, and the hour of the night, that made the place a little unsettling, even for a brave pony such as herself. She was a little relieved that the meeting took place at the edge, rather than inside. Her parents were right in the sense that she had no idea what kinds of dangerous creatures lurked around at this hour.

Shaking off any signs of nervousness, she approached Twilight Sparkle, who was giving her a rather perturbed look, like she had said something wrong.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. She had a feeling she knew the answer, but her ego got the better of her, and dismissed the thought. "I'm on time, aren't I?" Her question was given with a somewhat cocky half smile.

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes at the question. "Oh yes, Rainbow Dash." she answered, obvious sarcasm in her voice, displaying a fake smile in the process. "You came here at 1:15 just as I asked. You're quite punctual. That is..." her smile faded, returning to the narrow eyed glare she had given earlier. "...if your idea of punctual is 2:15! What the hay, Dash? Do you have any idea how creepy this place is at night?" she then pointed to Spike, who was simply sleeping over a beige tarp that was obviously covering something. It didn't look very comfortable, but the baby dragon didn't seem to mind. "And by myself, to boot?"

"Jeez, sorry!" Rainbow Dash apologized, her tone matching her friends irritation. "No pony, outside of Princess Luna, is crazy enough to be out at this time of night! So I over-slept! Cut me some slack!"

Upon realizing that Rainbow Dash even bothered to go out of her way to help her with another one of her crazy experiments, she hung her head low, feeling guilty for yelling.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow." she said, her tone back to normal. "I shouldn't have got upset. It's my fault. I've just been under a lot of stress, and I haven't been getting much sleep lately."

"It's no biggie." the Pegasus reassured her. "What are friends for? So, what's this thing that's been getting you so worked up lately?"

At this, she smiled her usual cheery smile, happy to get back to the subject at hand. "Allow me to show you."

She trotted over to the beige colored, somewhat raggedy looking tarp that was obviously covering something up. In their brief spat, Rainbow Dash didn't even notice the unusual piece of scenery that Spike had been conveniently sleeping on. After being gently nudged awake, Spike got up and helped remove the tarp, tossing it aside, and revealing a chariot. It was silver in color, and had grey colored wheels. The reins and axle were black. However, where the pony would normally be attached to, was instead a purple tricycle.

"So what do you think?"

The Pegasus rubbed the back of her head for a moment. Sure it was a nice looking chariot, but it didn't seem like anything special, not after the big ordeal Twilight had made about it earlier.

"Umm...it's nice." she answered, trying, but failing to hide her bewilderment. "I don't see what the big fuss was about, though."

"That's because you haven't seen it in action." After noticing her confused stare wasn't going away, she continued. "All will be explained in just a bit." she then turned her direction towards Spike, who had just put on his bike helmet, the color matching his purple scales. "Please get on the tricycle, Spike."

"Will do!" the young dragon answered. He mounted the tricycle, put his claws on the handlebars, his feet on the pedals, and gave the thumbs up sign. "Ready when you are!" He then quickly put on a pair of sunglasses that he somehow got from nowhere. "Oops. Almost forgot these."

Rainbow Dash quickly recognized the shades Spike was sporting. "Hey!" she pointed in accusation. "Those are mine! Where'd ya get them?"

"No time for that!" Twilight Sparkle quickly interjected. "We're already behind schedule, and I need to make up for lost time." she then used her magic to levitate a digital watch around her assistants neck. It was about the size of your average stopwatch, made of black colored metal, and displayed red digital numbers in the center. She then brought out an identical one with her magic, and put it around her friends neck. "Pay close attention to the time from here on out." she then pointed at the digits. "Please note, that the clock around your neck is in precise synchronization with the one around Spikes neck." Sure enough, both clocks read as 2:20:00 and counting, down to the exact millisecond.

"Okay..." was all Rainbow Dash could say. She was still not understanding what her friend was doing, but hoped she would eventually get to the point.

"Okay, now back away, Rainbow." she said as she herself took several steps back. "The test is underway, and Spike needs plenty of space."

Still confused as to what is going on, she backed up as well until she was at the same distance as her Unicorn friend. Twilight Sparkle then gave a motion signal by slightly nodding her head. Spike noticed, gave a thumbs up signal again, and proceeded to pedal the tricycle as fast as he could, which was easy given the space provided. She decided to explain things a little further while Spike built up acceleration.

"If my calculations are correct, when Spike manages to hit 88 miles per hour, and believe me, he can, my experiment will be complete!" noticing the confused look her friend still had, she sighed. "Sorry. I keep forgetting I'm the only one who knows what I'm talking about. But just watch, and you'll see."

As Spikes speed neared 88, white sparks started surrounding the chariot, and were forming around Spike and the tricycle he was riding. As soon as it hit the required speed, the chariot, along with the baby dragon, instantly vanished, leaving only a trail of fire in its wake, which Twilight Sparkle immediately put out with her magic by using a conveniently placed fire extinguisher nearby.

"It worked! It really worked!" Twilight Sparkle pointed at where the chariot once was. "Did you see that? My experiment was a success!"

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but raise a brow. "So let me get this straight. You fry Spike into what I can only imagine is nothingness, and you say it worked?" she then shook her head. "I'm surprised at you, Twi. I'm assuming you made him vanish somewhere else, because there'd be no way you would ever kill your assistant in the name of science!"

The Unicorn stopped jumping for joy, tilted her head at the Pegasus, and began laughing.

"Both the chariot and Spike are perfectly intact. As for their location, it's not a matter of where, but a matter of when." she then noticed her friends blank stare. "Sorry, I did it again. You see, to put it in laypony's terms, Spike became Equestria's first time traveler. In the future! Two minutes into the future, to be exact!" In exactly 2 minutes, he'll be returning at that very spot, and we would have caught up with him, so to speak."

Rainbow Dash just stared at the Unicorn, mouth agape. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. A time machine? That sort of thing was only a work of fiction, yet here she was, right in the middle of it. If she wasn't there to see it, she wouldn't have believed it.

"Wait a minute." she began, finally recovering from her initial shock. "Are you telling me that you built a real life time machine using a chariot, and Spike as the pulley?"

Twilight held her head high at her magnificent accomplishment. "Yeah, pretty much. It was quite an interesting discovery. I was inspired by the author Jules Vernehoof, and decided to try my hoof at actually creating a time machine in real life. It wasn't that hard, really. All I had to do was use my magic, and combine it with some Goblin technology I read about it textbooks. Of course, there was the tiny matter of-"

She stopped talking when the clock around Rainbow Dash's neck started beeping. Seconds later, in the exact same spot that it had departed, the chariot returned in the same bright light it disappeared in. Spike stopped the bike as hard as he could. However, after putting the chariot to an immediate halt, he was sent flying across the sky. Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards him, caught him mid air, and brought him back to the ground, and next to Twilight Sparkle, whom immediately compared the two clocks.

"And here's your proof right here. Spike's clock is exactly two minutes behind yours and still ticking!"

"Wow!" Rainbow Dash finally said. "You're right. This really is a breakthrough! Just imagine the things we could do with this!"

"All in good time." Twilight Sparkle answered. "But first, let me show you how it works."

She then led them to the part of the chariot that the rider stands in. On the front was a board, showing three time tables. each in red digital numbers and letters.

"The first one tells you where you've been. The second one tells you where you are, and the third one tells you where you're going." She then magically typed in a certain date in the third column. "Let's say you wanted to see the foundation of Ponyville." then she typed in another earlier date. "Or let's say you want to witness the birth of Princess Celestia." Finally, she typed in a time predating some twenty odd years. "Hm. This would be interesting. Imagine getting to see what your parents were like before you were born. I know that's something I'd like to do."

"So I understand this thing needs a pony to pull, but what makes it run? I know Spike wasn't able to magically go back in time all by himself."

"A very good observation, Rainbow." she then pointed to a small compartment next to the digital devices. In it, was an ominous looking crystal. It was grey in color, and had this strange glow to it. "I needed something with a little kick to it, but no such crystals were available in Ponyville. Heck, they weren't even available in Canterlot, outside of the royal quarters, of course. But I had to get my hooves on one. I couldn't very well ask Princess Celestia, as she would probably disapprove of messing with the space-time continuum. Although I'm sure she'll change her mind once I can prove how much good I can create from it."

"So if you didn't get this crystal from any of the Princesses, how did you get it? Don't tell me you snuck into the palace and stole it!"

"Of course not!" Twilight Sparkle scoffed. "Stealing is wrong, especially from the Princesses!"

"But stealing from Goblins is perfectly okay, right?" Spike chimed in, obviously not pleased.

"I didn't steal from them!" the Unicorn said as she glared at her assistant. Her face then went into a more pleasant display as she turned back towards Rainbow Dash. "I was trailing the mountains one day, and I overheard of group of Goblins plotting to blow up Canterlot. I couldn't very well allow that. However, at the same time, I couldn't just charge in there head-first. So I got an idea. I approached them, and told them I could help them with their goals, for a price."

"Wait wait wait wait!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "You sold out Canterlot just to complete your crazy experiment?"

"What's wrong with you?" It was apparent in her tone that the accusation truly offended her. "I would never do such a thing! Long story short, I tricked them into exposure. I led Princess Celestia into their secret lair, and she turned them into stone."

"So let me get this straight; you tricked some Goblin terrorists into trusting you, betrayed them by selling them out to Princess Celestia, and made off with their crystals?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"...That's the most incredible thing I've ever heard! I didn't know you had it in ya!"

Spike groaned, disgusted at the fact that everyone was taking this so lightly. "Am I the only one who's worried that maybe, just maybe, that the Goblin group might've had friends?"

"Pretty much, yeah." answered Twilight. "If there were any more, they would've shown up long ago."

"Well, I hope you're right." After trying most of the night to sway her decision, he had finally given up, especially now that she had Rainbow Dash backing her.

"Anyways," Rainbow Dash interrupted. She was getting tired, and wanted to finish this experiment as soon as possible. "why did you need me for the experiment?"

"Yes, of course." replied Twilight, smacking her face with her hoof in the process. "How could I forget? Spike, go ahead and remove the tricycle from the chariot, then attach it to Rainbow Dash."

"Right away!"

As he was doing this, Twilight continued with her explanation regarding the leftover details of the time machine chariot. "Of course, the crystal can't just activate on its own. It needs a little magical charge in order to start things up." her horn glowed the minute she said this, causing the crystal to glow an ominous purple. "There. Now as you could see earlier, Spike can only go so fast, being a baby dragon and all. However, a perfectly healthy pony can reach 88 miles per hour in a much faster time, allowing for faster results."

"Oh, so that's why you needed me." Rainbow Dash said with her head held high. "I guess it wasn't just flattery when you said you needed the fastest pony in all of Equestria."

"There, all finished!" Spike announced after applying the final harness. "We're ready to go!"

However, before anything else could go on, a certain pink pony came rushing in the scene. She was shaking like crazy as she got near, almost like she had a tumble in the dryer. Twilight knew right away what was happening.

"Uh-oh." she said. "It's her Pinkie sense, and it looks like a doozy!"

After stopping next to them, and finally getting herself to stop twitching, Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"These twitches are telling me that something really really really bad is going to happen any minute! Right over here! It woke me up in the middle of the night, and I had to come warn you!"

"Warn who?" asked Twilight.

"Probably you!" answered Spike as he pointed across the entrance to the Everfree forest. "Look over there!"

Much to the Unicorns dismay, she had seen something she wished she hadn't. It was a grey horse-less vehicle, a van if they had ever seen one before, and it was being driven by short green Goblins sporting brown leathery sackcloth with many black buckles with gold chains. There were three of them. One was driving the vehicle, one was in the passenger seat, and the third was poking his head through the open sun roof. There was no doubt they were headed their way.

"Get out of here, now!" Twilight cried to her friends. "I'll draw their fire!"

"They breathe fire?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"No, but let's just say their weapon of choice isn't an apple pie! Now go!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Rainbow Dash boldly spoke, stepping in front of Twilight. "What kind of loyal friend would I be if I just abandoned you?" she then looked at her own body, and remembered that she was still attached to the chariot. "Besides, I'd slow myself down."

They wouldn't have had time anyways, for as soon as she had finished speaking, the Goblin van had parked right in front of them. The one on the sun roof had a strange contraption in his hands. It was black, had a handle with a trigger, and a long shaft that pointed in Twilights direction.

"Twilight Sparkle." The Goblin said. "We meet at last. Ya know, we's don't take kindly ta snitches. In fact, we's pretty much kills 'em." Obviously, his grammar was quite poor, despite his technical know-how.

And then, without giving any warning, proceeded to use his submachine gun to kill the Unicorn in a matter of seconds, who tried, and failed, to shield herself with her magic. her friends screamed as they saw their friend fall to the ground, too much in a state of shock for words.

"Oops! Did we's forget ta tells ya? Magic has no effect against dese bullets." He then pointed the gun towards Rainbow Dash. "Your turn." he fired, only to have his gun jam on him. "Da heck?" he tried again, only for it to remain jammed. "Crappy piece 'o junk!" he then pointed to the Pegasus. "I'll be right back. Don't ya move a muscle!" then he ran to the back of the van to find another gun.

"Run, Dash!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash, now out of her shock, turned to see the pink pony and Spike have boarded the chariot. For some strange reason, Pinkie was also holding a whip.

"I'm not going to leave Twilight!" the Pegasus protested. "Not to these punks!"

"Trust me on this!"

"I don't have time to argu-aaahh!" Rainbow Dash made a quick yelp at the sound of Pinkie Pie cracking the whip in the air. Fortunately, the Goblin was too busy looking for a gun amidst the junk to notice what was going on. The other two were just talking amongst themselves, as if they didn't care where they were, and were just doing a mission.

"Go!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "While we still have time!"

"Pinkie, I told you I-aah!" her protests were silenced by another crack of the whip, this time on her flank. It hardly stung, but it was still annoying. "What the he-aah! Stop that!" she was now getting furious. "I swear Pinkie, if you don-aah!"

"Giddy up!"

Then, almost by instinct, Rainbow Dash sped across towards the direction of Ponyville. She wasn't sure what exactly her pink friends reason for treating her like a workhorse were, but here she was, running on instinct. She tried flying, but the weight of her two friends kept her grounded, and she wasn't used to having so many things pulling on her. Also, that whip was really annoying her.

"When this is over, I'm using that thing on you!"

"No time!" Spike suddenly said. "Here they come!"

Sure enough, the Goblins were hot on their trail. The one on the sunroof was holding a black handgun, and was aiming it towards Pinkie Pie. He shot, only to have Spike move in front of her, his scaly back deflecting the bullet.

"Thanks, Spike!"

"Uh-oh!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Something's happening!"

Both Pinkie Pie and Spike braced the chariot as they watched the odometer hit 88 miles per hour. Then they looked around, and noticed the ominous light surrounding them, and eventually engulfing them. After a bright flash of light, which only lasted a millisecond, their surroundings were back to normal. Pinkie Pie pulled on the reins, motioning her friend to stop.

"The Goblins are gone." Spike said.

Upon hearing this, the rainbow Pegasus halted immediately.

"Okay, now where are we?" she asked.

"Not where, when!" Spike answered. "According to this meter, we're about twenty-three years into the past."

Both ponies eyed widened as big as saucers. That far into the future? Could Twilight Sparkles time traveling device really succeed that much? Then an idea struck Pinkie Pies mind.

"I got it! Now that we know how this machine thingy exactly works, we can go back to the future and warn Twilight Sparkle of her upcoming doom before it even happens!"

"That's great, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in delight. "I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner! Let's do it!"

"I don't think that's going to be an option." Spike suddenly said as he scratched the back of his head. "In fact, we may be stuck here for quite some time." he then pointed at the crystal, which was now cracked, and had a bullet hole right in the center of it. "We need one that's fully intact in order for it to work, not to mention a Unicorns magic to initially charge it."

Pinkie gasped, while Rainbow groaned, despite not being able to see anything, what with still being attached to the chariot. She didn't need to see the cracked crystal in order to know that this was a bad thing.

"Great. Just great." the Pegasus said as she planted a hoof on her face. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Get a new crystal and a Unicorn, duh." Pinkie answered.

"You make it sound so easy. First off, and you weren't there for this, but Twilight said that this crystal was extremely hard to come by. Second, are we supposed to approach any ol' Unicorn and say, 'hi, we're from the future. Can you use your magic to power up our time traveling crystal?' Yeah, like that's not gonna make us look crazy."

"Let's worry about that, later." Spike said, hoping to avoid an argument, then yawned. "It's really late. We need to find a place to rest. Any suggestions?"

The three pondered the situation for a bit. Now that he mentioned it, they were beginning to feel pretty tired. All the energy that they had when running from those Goblins had finally run out. Also, now that they no longer had to bereave the loss of their Unicorn friend, their minds were a little more relaxed, despite the possibility of being stuck in the past. They had to remain confident, though. For now, they needed a place to rest. After all, thinking with a clouded mind would do them no good. After some time had passed, Pinkie finally said something.

"I got it! How about we...nah. That won't work." she continued to think again, then came up with something. "Ooh! I know! How about we sleep right here? It may not be comfortable, but think about it. Will there actually be anyplace in old Ponyville that'll be open this late at night? Well, except for the Ponyville cemetery, but I doubt any of you would want to sleep there."

Spike shuddered at the thought. "And you would be right, Pinkie."

"I guess we have no choice." Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, what else would we do? Crash inside somepony's barn, scare the living daylights outta them, and have them chase us out with weapons? Please! We're better than that."

So after sharing a laugh out of the seemingly silly scenario, the three found a nearby tree that conveniently overlooked Ponyville, and slept under it, putting their worries aside for the time being.

Morning had now come. Rainbow Dash was still attached to the chariot, sleeping in the only available position, given the circumstances. Pinkie Pie slept right beside her, and Spike rested his head against her curly mane. Pinkie was the first to wake up. She got up, and stretched her fore-legs, similar to how a cat would, also causing Spikes head to hit the ground, waking him in the process. The sound of his yelp caused Rainbow to jolt her head up from its lying position. She looked around, yawned, then slowly got up. Both she and Spike yawned again in unison.

"Morning already?" she asked, vision blurry and voice groggy. "I hardly got any sleep. How do you non flyers sleep? I can't comfortably rest on anything that isn't as soft as a cloud." she then turned towards her friends. "So what now? Should we head to Ponyville? We can at least find a motel to crash in until we can figure out how to get back to our own time?" Then a slight twinge in pain caused her to notice that her sides were a bit sore from having the chariot attached to her all night. "And can somepony else pull this thing? My sides hurt. I'm still a little tired from not much sleep. I still have last nights events playing in my head. And to top it off, I have a slight headache! Can I 'please' have a moments rest?"

"Oh, sorry." Spike said, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we didn't think about that." He then unhinged the straps so their rainbow maned friend could wiggle free. "There you go." He then turned in Pinkie Pie's direction. "Um, do you think you could pull us to Ponyville? I'm not exactly strong enough to pull two ponies into town."

"Of course." Pinkie Pie happily answered. "You didn't even need to ask. After all, that's what friends are for."

After strapping the pink pony onto the chariot, and then helping Rainbow Dash onto the drivers part, and then boarding himself, the trio made their way to the Ponyville of the past.

As they entered the streets of Ponyville, they were expecting a retro look, but to their surprise, the whole place looked almost the same, save for some slight alterations of the buildings. Ponyville of the past didn't look much different from Ponyville of the present. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that the only difference were less buildings, one would think that they never traveled to the past at all. It would seem that the architectural designs for Ponyville were built to last. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, who was tired to begin with, couldn't get any peace of mind, as her two friends were busy singing some strange song for some reason.

"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream  
>Make him the cutest that I've ever seen<br>Give him the word that I'm not a rover  
>Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over"<p>

Now normally she wouldn't mind Pinkie's singing. In fact, sometimes she even liked it. However, she was feeling pretty crabby, and the sounds of the duo were kind of bothersome at the moment.

"Sandman, I'm so alone  
>Don't have nobody to call my own"<p>

Yep. She was definitely not in the mood for singing. Still, she didn't want to be a party pooper. So she braced herself, her plan being to just wait it out.

"Bung, bung, bung, bung

Mr. Sandman bring us a dream  
>(Yes)"<p>

On second thought, she wanted quiet, and she wanted it now.

"Can you two please stop singing?" she exclaimed, her voice almost shouting. "I have a lot on my mind, and I need some rest! Or did you forget that?"

The pink pony stopped in her tracks, surprised at her friends outburst. They were also now receiving some weird stares from passers-by. Pinkie Pie turned her head towards her friend, eyes wide as saucers. She couldn't tell if they were from shock or sadness, which just made matters worse. Spike just stared blankly, occasionally blinking. Rainbow Dash was now feeling awkward.

"Look, I'm sorry." she started, rubbing the back of her mane. "I'm just really tired. A little hungry, too. The faster we find a motel, the better."

However, the pink ponies eyes were averted elsewhere. Her friend looked at her quizzically, wondering what she was staring at as her friends lips began to form a smile. Did she even hear anything she had said?

She then turned around, following her friends gaze, and saw a building that looked like Mr. and Mrs. Cakes shop. Only, it wasn't. Instead, it was a diner. A frilly, hot pink diner that strangely still had a second floor. Actually, except for the different color and the word 'diner', it looked pretty much like the same cake shop they were familiar with.

"I didn't know Mr. and Mrs. Cake used to own a diner." Pinkie observed in amazement. "We gotta check this out!"

Then, without warning, she raced over to the diner, taking the chariot, along with her friends still on board, to the diner at top speed. Rainbow and Spike nearly fell off, but managed to brace themselves in time. When she found a parking space, she somehow detached herself from the chariot, and ran ahead inside. Sighing, the two just calmly walked inside. Pinkie had already found them a seat by a corner window. She motioned them over to sit, and they did. When they took their seats, a very young looking Mr. Cake walked to their table, holding some menus on his back.

After giving them each a menu, he greeted them warmly.

"Hello." he said. "I'm Thomas Cake, and I'll be taking your order. So what'll it be?"

Pinkie thought for a moment, then answered. She never even looked at her menu.

"I'll have four chocolate chip extra large muffins, two cups of coffee, and a piece of mint flavored gum." She then noticed the stares her friends were giving her. She raised a brow in return. "What? I'm hungry. I need some coffee, and I want fresh breath afterwards."

"Yeah, but I never figured you for a coffee drinker." Rainbow Dash stated. "I guess it does explain some of the hyperness, though." She took a few seconds to skim through the dessert menu, and then gave her order." Anyways, I'll just have an orange juice and a couple of glazed donuts. I just need something in my stomach before I take a nap. I'll eat something bigger later."

It was now Spikes turn to order. He was looking through the menu ever since he got it. He seemed a bit irritated that it didn't have what he really wanted. "You got any gemstones?" he decided to ask anyway. After receiving a narrow eyed look from Mr. Cake, he huffed, crossing his arms in the process, a frown on his face. "Nobody ever has gemstones on their menus. Whatever. I'll just have two eggs and two slices of toast. And some apple juice."

"Coming right up." Said Mr. Cake. He then took their menus, and went in the kitchen.

While they waited, they overheard a conversation between a very young Mrs. Cake and a strange looking Pegasus that had white fur, a brown mane, and was wearing an orange life vest for some reason. They listened in on the conversation.

"I already told you." Mrs. Cake said to him. "I can't give you a cola for free! You have to pay for it!"

"Whatever." he said. "Just give me something without sugar."

The trio then stopped listening to the conversation, each shaking their heads.

"Weirdo." Dash said.

"You'd think he was some kind of faraway traveler, what with talking and dressing that strange." Spike added.

"It's definitely up there in weirdness." Pinkie also added. "Believe me, I've seen some strange stuff."

"Of that I have no doubt." Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.

The trio of friends were then given their meals by a pony they wouldn't have expected. This earth pony looked very familiar. She had tan fur, and a grey mane. She also wore glasses on her snout. She then smiled, thanked them for their patronage, and then went to the next table.

"She looks familiar." Spike said as he took a bite of some toast.

"She should." Pinkie answered before taking a sip from her coffee mug. "She's the mayor of Ponyville. Or will be, at least." She then proceeded to pig out on her muffins, not caring about the mess she was making, nor the grossed out expressions from the nearby patrons.

"Kinda weird that this is the kind of job she had before she entered politics." Dash said. "But ya gotta start somewhere, right?"

Just as the Pegasus was about to take a sip of her orange juice, she hears a familiar voice in the background.

"Hey, Dash!" the female voice said.

Rainbow quickly turns towards the voice's direction. Her mouth then gapes open at the sight. Sitting in the far end of the diner, was her mother. Only, she was much younger. And surrounding her was a younger looking Tiff, accompanied by three goons, each of them grey furred Pegasi with black manes. They also wore sunglasses. Stranger still, they almost looked like generic clones of each other. At least they would've, if not for the fact that one of them looked a little chubby, and was the only colt in the group.

"Uh, Hi Tiff." the meek Pegasus said, rather, well, meekly. "How's it going?"

"You got my homework finished?"

"Well, no. I figured since it's not due until Monday..."

Tiff scoffs, and then knocks on the ponies head a few times.

"Hello? Anybody home? Think, Dash, think! I gotta have time to re-copy it. Do you realize what would happen if I turned in 'my' homework with 'your' handwriting? I'd get kicked outta school!" she then notices the rainbow maned Pegasus glaring at her from across the diner. "What you you lookin' at, flank-head?" No longer caring at the moment, she turns her attention back at the weaker Pegasus. "So about my homework, Dash?"

"Um, okay, Tiff. I'll do it tonight and bring it over first thing tomorrow."

"Not too early. I sleep in on Sundays. Anyways, gotta go." when she turns around, part of her tail whips against the Pegasi's face, causing her to wince. The goons laugh, and then the four of them leave the diner.

"Wow, Rainbow." Spike said as he finished off an egg. "Is that really your mom?"

"Yeah." she answered, obviously not proud of the fact.

"She's kind of a push-over, no offense."

"Shut up!" she then stood up, ready to confront her future mother. "I'm going to talk to her."

"But what about the space-time continuum?" Pinkie asked as she finished off the last of her second cup of coffee.

"The what?"

"You know. The thing that might change time as we know it."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything major. Just satisfying a bit of curiosity."

"Okay. Just as long as you don't change the course of history."

Not bothering to ask anymore questions, Rainbow flew over to her mother-to-be, and sat next to her.

"So, you're really Melanie Dash?" she tried to start up a conversation, despite wanting to scold her outright.

"Uh-huh. Who are you?"

"Let's just say that we might go back. Way way back."

Just then, the would be mayor of Ponyville, approaches the two. She tsk'ed while shaking her head in disgust.

"Say, why do you let that girl push you around?"

She then put her head down in both shame and embarrassment. "Well, um, she's much bigger than me. Having a gang around her doesn't help matters, either."

"Have some respect for yourself! If you let ponies walk all over you now, they'll be walking all over you for the rest of your life. Look at me. You think I'm going to be waiting tables forever?" She then displayed her cutie mark. "I earned that scroll when I was on a reading binge. I'm going to make something of myself! I'm going to night school-I'm going to be somebody!"

"That's right!" Pinkie Pie chimed in, excited by the speech. "She's gonna be mayor someday!" she then quickly put her hooves between her lips, realizing what she just did.

The tan pony seriously contemplated this idea. "Mayor...it has a real nice ring to it. I could run for mayor!"

She then happily gathered the dishes from the tables, already making mental notes to write down for later. Rainbow Dash then notices that during the future mayors conversation and Pinkie Pie's outburst, her future mother had managed to slip out of the diner unnoticed. She then groans in frustration, and flies back to the table she was originally sitting at.

"I'm going after her!" she told her friends. "Don't try to stop me!" she then points to Pinkie, who was about to say something. "And no! I don't care about that space-time-what'sitcalled, either! I'll meet you at whatever motel you choose later. There's only one, so I'll manage to find it."

And without saying another word, she flew out of the diner at lightning speed. Spike takes a sip of his apple juice in silence. Pinkie slowly chews her gum as she shakes her head, dreading whatever direction this might head.

"Don't worry, Pinkie." Spike said assuredly. "Rainbow may be a little reckless at times, but I'm sure she can show restraint when the situation calls for it. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

It was then that Pinkie Pie's body started twitching. Gulping nervously, Spike put a couple bits on the table, and stood up from his seat. He then helped the pink pony stop her shaking for the time being by gently placing his hand on her hoof.

"We better get that motel ready, then. Something tells me we got a lot of work ahead of us."

End of chapter 2.

A/N: I figured I leave it here so I can transition into the next chapter a little easier. Sorry for taking so long with this update. Been really busy and tired. Plus, I haven't been able to write this as often as I would like.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the incredibly long delay. Turns out, between work, family, and gaming, I just don't have the time I used to for fanfiction writing. I will finish this story, though. I don't leave unfinished stories :P. Oh and fyi, the part where Marty meets Doc Brown had to be drastically changed due to their being no Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville at that time, but you already knew that :P. Anyway, on with the story.

Buck to the Future

Chapter 3

Rainbow Dash had been chasing Melanie for the past half hour. She was pretty fast. However, she managed to elude the persistent pony.

"Dang." Rainbow pouted. " What good is speed if you can hide so well?"

*Ponyville Motel*

Hours later, well into the evening, Spike and Pinkie Pie were playing cards. She still couldn't get that bad feeling that something bad just happened. It was also causing her to lose to Spike.

"I know I'm not very good," Spike started, "but you don't have to go so easy on me."

"I'm not. I just can't shake this feeling that Rainbow Dash did something, well, not good."

"Relax Pinkie Pie." Spike assured. "If something were to happen, she would have contacted us by now." Then he looked at the wall on the clock, and raised an eyebrow. "Although she's been gone a pretty long time."

Just then, without bothering to knock, Rainbow Dash bolts in through the door, shuts it behind her, and pants, obviously out of breath. The other two noticed a look of panic in her eyes. Pinkie Pie walked over to her, and gave her a strong leer.

"What. Did. You. Do?" she asked, her gaze never wavering.

After catching her breath, she took a deep breath, sighed. "Well," she began, scratching the back of her mane nervously, "It went like this." After taking a deep breath, she began explaining in a fast tone, hardly taking a breath. "I was chasing after my mom who was much faster than she looked, and I thought I lost her but it turned out she was just hiding above a cloud watching something, only that something was a somepony and that somepony happened to be my dad who was just chillin across the street doing something I can't quite remember since I was too busy stopping a carriage from heading my mom's way. I moved her out of the way in time only to get hit myself which caused me to black out for who knows how long, and when I woke up..."

Both Spike and Pinkie Pie were listening intensively, waiting for her to finish. However, she just stopped there.

"Yes?" asked Pinkie. "And?"

"And..." she quickly covered her mouth with her front hooves. "I don't want to talk about it. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it."

"Why not?" Spike asked. "It's not like you did something to create a paradox, like accidentally caused your own dad to fall in love with you." Spike chuckled at the thought. "Because that would be stupid." He then noticed Rainbow Dash was even paler than usual. "...Right?" He then sighed. "We're doomed."

Pinkie shook her head in frustration, pacing as she did so. "I just knew something like this was going to happen! Now on top of finding a way back to our own time, we now have to go on a side quest to keep Rainbow Dash from being unborn, possibly experiencing many adventures and mishaps along the way!" She then stopped pacing, and smiled a little smile, which eventually turned into a normal smile, then a joyous smile. "This is going to be an awesome adventure!"

Rainbow Dash groaned at this. "Well at least someone is having some fun at my expense!" she then walked over to one of the beds, and looked at it. "To quote Rarity," she started as she jumped on it, striking a dramatic pose, "This is the worst, possible, thing!" She then regained her composure. "That felt weird."

"So what should we do?" Spike asked.

"The only thing we can do. Tell Princess Celestia." Rainbow answered, then shook her head. "Nah. That's dumb. Like it can be just as simple as 'Hiya Princess! We messed up the space time thingy and now we need help fixing it. Oh, and can we borrow one of your illegal crystals so we can return home?' Yeah, we'd not only look crazy, but probably end up being locked in a dungeon for crazyponies!"

"Oh, I'd give the princess much more credit than that." said a voice not belonging to the group. "You'd be surprised how understanding she could be."

The three jumped in shock as they quickly turned around at the direction at the voice. There, in all her marvel, was Equestria's royal ruler, Princess Celestia. While they were talking, she had let herself in through the window. The trio quickly bowed to their knees.

"Princess Celestia?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "What are you doing here? How did you know about what's been happening?"

"It was simple." she calmly answered as they slowly arose from the bow. "Something so complex as a disturbance in the space-time continuum wouldn't go unnoticed to me. It also required me to come here in secret, hence my lack of a grand entrance. As for knowing what you did, well, it's easy to overhear when I'm in the same room." she giggled at that last part. "Anything else?"

"Well, yes." Rainbow said, then fell to her knees. "Please don't punish me! And please don't punish Twilight! I didn't mean to mess up time, and Twilight has already been punished in her own way!"

Celestia stared at the groveling Pegasus in shock. "Punish you? Do I become some sort of tyrant in the future? I would never do such a horrible thing! Ponies make mistakes after all. I mean, where would you get such an awful idea?"

Pinkie Pie thought about that question. Over her head, a thought bubble appeared. In it, flashed clips of Twilight Sparkle exclaiming and worrying about the wrath of Celestia for potential failure, despite it never coming to pass. Then it flashed clips of random pieces of fanfiction portraying Princess Celestia as a trollish tyrant. After that, some DeviantArt comics started flashing clips of something that was only labeled Trollestia. Finally, the thought bubble disappeared.

"Wow." she thought to herself. "Where the hay did she get such negative PR?"

She accidentally said this last part out loud, as Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Celestia were staring at her oddly.

"What?" she asked, oblivious of the fact that she's the only one who views her outbursts as normal. She then looked at Rainbow Dash and gasped. "Dash! Look at your hooves!"

The rainbow Pegasus casually looked at her front hooves, then stared in horror as they were now transparent. All she could do to stop from freaking out was just stand there.

"What's happening to her?!" Spike asked worriedly.

Celestia had a stern look on her face. "It's already happening. Due to her interference with time, she triggered an event that will prevent her own birth."

"Ohh. Like how she accidentally got her father to fall in love with her instead of her mother." He then noticed the queasy look on his friends face. "Oops. Sorry."

Finally regaining her composure, Rainbow Dash shook off the nausea, and then the transparency. "So what do I do? At this rate, I'll be gone by morning."

"This is true." Celestia stated. "Without any other siblings, your disappearance will happen at an alarming rate. I'd say in a day or two, depending on the circumstances." Suddenly, a burst of rainbow light emitted from her horn, which she then shot at the distressed Pegasus. "There. I temporarily slowed the effects of your vanishing, but you must hurry. Go to your parents school, and pretend to be students."

"But what if we get caught?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Not to worry." she answered. "I'll enroll you as a student, Pinkie as an aid, and Spike being your assistant."

"But I thought only Unicorns got assistants?"

"There are exceptions, you know."

"But the school is in Cloudsdale! How will they even float? Will you use that cloud walking spell Twilight once used?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Now that just leaves the way home. You see, the crystal that powered the time machine broke, and we need a new one."

"It will be provided, but not easy to acquire without raising suspicion. Just meet me outside of Ponyville in a week at 10:04pm." she grinned for the next sentence. "I have an unusual fascination with odd meeting times." She turned towards Pinkie Pie and Spike, chanted something under her breath, and a white beam of light shot from her horn and directly at the two. "There. Now go to that school first thing in the morning. You have no time to waste."

After saying this, Princess Celestia walked over to the motel door, opened it, and walked out. Before leaving, she took one more glance in their direction. "And Dash? Good luck." And with that, she flew off into the horizon.

After a long silence, Pinkie spoke.

"Cool. That was both spectacular and oddly convenient." She then laid down on the bed. "Well, off to sleep! Got a big day tomorrow." And like that, she was out like a light.

Spike yawned. "Good idea." he then crawled at the foot of the bed, curled up, and went to sleep.

Rainbow Dash, however, had some trouble sleeping. This was a lot to take in with so little time. Eventually she was able to relax her mind, then fall asleep in the adjacent bed.

*CloudsDale High school*

Rainbow Dash, a bit tired after carrying both Pinkie Pie and Spike to the school grounds, looked around the place. Pinkie Pie was wearing fake wings in order to better blend in.

"Wow." she said as her eyes scanned the area. "This place looks brand new." She then stared at the school doors, full of vigor. "Now it's time to get to work! I'll get my parents to fall in love, fix the past, and be back in time to gloat about it."

The three then rushed into the school. Looking around the hallways, it was a bit difficult to find their target within all the hustle and bustle of students walking in every direction. Eventually, they spotted Melanie walking in the middle of the hall. She was carrying books on her back.

"There she is." Unfortunately, she was being lightly kicked by some random Pegasi. Dash groaned in embarrassment.

"Maybe you were adopted." Spike noted, who was immediately treated to a glare by Dash.

As she continued to shake her head in embarrassment, a familiar adult colt with no mane approached Melanie with an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey, that's that one jerk from this school." She then noticed his lack of a mane. "Geez, didn't that guy ever have a mane?"

"Shape up, you slacker." he scolded her as he removed the 'kick me' sign from her back. "Do you wanna be a slacker for the rest of your life?"

"No." she answered sheepishly.

"What did your father ever see in that wimp?" Spiked asked, then was swiftly hit on the head by an annoyed Rainbow Dash. "Ouch! What?!"

Ignoring him, she rushed over and helped her with her books.

"Hey, Melanie, buddy." She started, breaking the ice. "I have been lookin' all over for you. You remember me, the filly who saved your life the other day?"

As they were walking, Melanie thought for a brief second, then answered. "Oh. Yeah."

"Good. T here's somebody I'd like you to meet."

Pinkie Pie and Spike carefully followed the two, making sure to be inconspicuous. Rainbow Dash then forcefully brought Melanie over to future Mr. Dash, who was talking to his friends by the lockers.

"Um, Axl?" It was a good thing that was his name, since that was also the picture of his cutie mark.

He turned around, then a bright smile lit across his face.

"Rainbow!"

Looking very uneasy, she quickly directed his attention to the shy Pegasus next to her.

"Uh, I'd like you to meet my good friend Melanie Dash."

After receiving a little nudge, Melanie shyly approached the colt of her dreams.

"Um, hi. It's really a pleasure to meet you."

Her face turned from shy to downcast as he walked right past her and straight to Rainbow Dash.

"How's your head?" He asked with concern as he raised his hoof to check it.

"Uh, good. Fine." she answered, slowly backing up.

"I've been concerned about your well-being ever since you flew off the other night. Are you okay?"

Suddenly, the bell rang.

"Oops. Time for class. Gotta go. I'll see you later, though." And with that, he and his friends rushed off to class.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash immediately rejoined her friends, who were not doing a good job at pretending not to eavesdrop. Melanie also left.

"He didn't even look at her." she groaned while saying this. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Yeah." Pinkie Pie agreed. "He's now infatuated with you instead of your mother."

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed at the statement. "Well thank you, captain obvious."

"You're welcome. Now, how to get them to fall in love...Ooh, I know! We could set them up on a date!"

"But how? What do ponies even do in this time period?"

"Well they're your parents, Dash. You must know them. Like, their common interests? What they do together? C'mon! You gotta know something!"

The Rainbow Pegasus thought for a moment, then sighed. "Well, nothing."

Scanning the area, Pinkie Pie noticed a flyer, and ran towards it, dragging Rainbow Dash and Spike along with her.

"Look! There's a flyer advertising a school dance." She squinted at the somewhat small lettering. "Enchantment over the Sky. Hm. Weird name."

That named made Dash's eyes immediately light up. "Of course! The Enchantment over the Sky dance! They're supposed to go to this. That's where they kiss for the first time."

"Okie-Dokie!" Pinkie exclaimed, also saluting for no apparent reason. "You stick to your mother like adhesive, and make sure she takes him to that dance!" She then looks off into the distance. "Aaaand skip scene!"

*Cafeteria*

Much later at the CloudsDale cafeteria, we cut to Rainbow Dash scanning for Melanie. She then spots her writing some stuff in a booklet of some sort. She rushes over, and sits herself down right across from her.

"Melanie, pal." she started. "Remember that colt I introduced you to? Axl?"

They both look way across from the lunch tables to see said colt eating lunch happily with his friends. Melanie looks onward with bliss. Rainbow starts to feel sick, and quickly diverts the topic to the booklet in front of them.

"So, what are you writing?"

Melanie looks at the writing, then smiles proudly.

"Uh, stories. Fantasy stories about ponies falling in love after being saved by various fiends." she smiles nervously, and continues writing.

Rainbow smiled at this. Her own mother. A writer. She wondered why she had a book for a cutie mark, but never seen her write anything. Now that she thought about it, there was quite a lot she didn't know about her mother.

"Really? I didn't know you did anything creative." she then reached over to the pages. "Let me read some."

Melanie quickly covered up the pages.

"Oh, no, no, no no. I uh, never let anybody read my stories."

Rainbow Dash responded with a blank stare.

"You're kidding. You write stories that don't get read. Why not?"

"Well," she responded with her head slightly tilted downwards, "what if they didn't like them? What if they told me I was no good?" she shrugged. "I guess it would be pretty hard for somebody to understand."

Rainbow thought to herself about how it was hard to understand, but then remembered that she was supposed to be putting herself in another ponies position. She then thought of Fluttershy, and realization immediately dawned on her.

"Uh, no. Not hard at all." after shaking off the image of meekness, she changed the subject. "So anyway, Melanie, about Axl...he really likes you." That was an obvious lie, but was hoping she was as gullible as she sounded. Thankfully, by the goofy smile on her face that appeared, she was right. "He told me to tell you that he wants you to ask him to the Enchantment over the Sky dance."

"Really?" she asked, hope filling her eyes.

Rainbows eyes diverted in response. "Uh, yeah. All you gotta do is go over there and ask him."

This caused Melanie to start shaking nervously.

"Wait, what? You mean right here, right now in the cafeteria? What if he said no? I don't know if I can take that kind of a rejection." after a couple seconds, her face became downcast. "Besides, I think he'd rather go with somebody else."

Rainbow Dash had a puzzled look on her face. Melanie answered that by pointing in Axl's direction, then resumed writing. Rainbow turned around, then sighed in annoyance. Axl was being hit on by a young Tiff, an annoyed look on his face.

"Come on, sweet thing." she said seductively. "I thought you liked strong filly's, and I'm as strong as they come." She demonstrated this by easily lifting him over the table with just her teeth by grabbing his mane like a newborn foal. He responded to this by pulling his weight to the ground, causing her to drop him.

"I do." He retorted. "Just not ones who are complete jerks who think assault is a form of affection."

The goons that followed her laughed, but were quickly silenced by her glare. She then gazed at the male Pegasus very closely, almost touching.

"Well maybe you do and just don't know it yet."

"Uh, personal space."

She grinned wickedly, licking her lips. Suddenly, she was shoved a couple feet away by a very pissed off Rainbow Dash.

"You heard him, you idiot jerk! Personal spa-" she stopped speaking and looked at Tiff in a bit of shock. She hadn't noticed at the diner, but looking at her now towering over her, she was much bigger. Granted, she was big in the present time, but she was weaker in the future. Here, she's at her prime, making her a tougher opponent to face. "Uh, you know, out of respect."

Tiff glared at her. "So what's it to ya, flank-head?"

Unexpectedly, Rainbow Dash was shoved by Tiff, knocking her back about three or four feet. She was definitely stronger than the last time she fought her in the present as an older mare. Dash was going to have to use all her might in order to take her down. Sure Tiff was bigger, and stronger, but she was faster, and smarter too.

Tiff shoved her again. Dash hit back, this time only pushing her back a little. They both glared at each other. Tiff readied for a head butt while Rainbow readied for a kick. The other students looked on in anticipation, excited to see a fight. Suddenly, the bald Pegasus steps in and interrupts the two by clearing his throat. Tiff smiles sheepishly and raises her head, then puts a foreleg around Dash's shoulder, baring a fake smile while doing it.

"Listen," she started, "since you're new here, uh, I'm gonna cut you a break, today." She smiled in the adults direction, then turned back to Rainbow, this time, with a serious look on her face. "So why don't you make like a tree, and get outta here."

With one more glare, Tiff and her goons left the cafeteria, leaving a bewildered Dash just standing there. Pinkie Pie and Spike, who have been watching in the background, shook their heads.

"Make like a tree and get out of here?!" Pinkie repeated in disgust. "What kind of moron gets that saying wrong?"

"I'm a baby dragon and even I thought that was dumb!" Spiked agreed while eating some food. "Sheesh! Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it."

The bald Pegasus was about to scold Rainbow Dash, but a flying paper airplane caught his attention, so he ran off in its general direction. Rainbow turned towards the table Melanie was sitting at, and saw that she was long gone.

"Crap." she muttered. "This just keeps getting harder and harder."

*Ponyville*

Much later in the day, Rainbow Dash tracks down Melanie, finds her, and zooms in her direction.

"Melanie!" she called.

Melanie notices her, and flies away.

"Why do you keep following me around?" she asks as she tries to get away.

However, due to Rainbow being incredibly fast, flies in front of her with relative ease, and lays a hoof on her shoulder.

"Look, Melanie. I'm telling you, Melanie, if you do not ask Axl to that dance, I'm gonna regret it for the rest of my life." She was now getting nervous at the thought of potentially not existing.

"But I can't go to the dance." Melanie answered while trying to fly home. "I'll, uh, miss my favorite tv program."

Dash smacked herself on the forehead, but quickly focused back on the topic at hand.

"Yeah, but, Melanie," she continued, trying not to go into a rage by the irritation of her mother's spineless personality, "Axl wants to go with you." She didn't believe that lie would work a second time, but she was getting desperate. "Give him a break."

"Look, I'm just not ready to ask him out to the dance." she then pointed at the irritated Pegasus. "And not you or anypony else in this world is gonna make me change my mind." And with that, she ran into her house, quickly shutting the door behind her.

Rainbow Dash, now changing from frustrated to angry, slammed her hoof on the ground. Only, it didn't make a noise. She looked down, and saw that her hoof was transparent again.

"No no no no no no!" she exclaimed, more frightened than she's ever been. "I can't disappear yet!"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her back. She turned around, and saw that Spike had jumped on her back, and injected her with some kind of needle. Pinkie Pie came rushing in a second later.

"Sorry, Rainbow." Spike said apologetically. "Princess Celestia anticipated this might happen, and sent me over some of her magic in a bottle. I told Pinkie to just have you drink it, but she insisted that an injection would be a better idea for rationing."

She was about to say something, but decided against it for the time being. There's just no reasoning with Pinkie Pie sometimes. "Well that's not important right now. My mom is gonna ask my dad to the dance, whether she wants to or not!"

"But how?" Pinkie asked. "She seemed pretty adamant about not going."

With this, Dash grinned a wicked smile. "By using her own logic against her."

*Ponyville*

It was late at night. Pinkie Pie and Spike had snuck into the house, and into Melanie's bedroom. Rainbow Dash left the theatrics up to Pinkies creative and strange mind, while Spike assisted in those theatrics, while she posed as lookout. The pink pony quietly stood over the sleeping Pegasus, donning a pink dragon costume. Despite Rainbow Dash's protests at the color being too girly, Pinkie refused to compromise. Spike was inside to provide the special effects. Pinkie put an earpiece on Melanie so as not to awaken the other members of the house, and attached a cord to Spike's sound effects recorder, seeing as he was too young to successfully make an adult dragon's roar. He then pressed the button, sending out a loud roar in the Pegasus' ears, causing her to jump right out of the covers.

Melanie quickly backed into the corner of the bed, obviously frightened at the sight.

"Wh-who and what are you?" she asked nervously.

Spiked pressed the button again, causing her to quake in fear, covering her ears from the roar. Thankfully, she was too tired and scared to notice the thin cord dangling from her ear to the dragon.

"Silence, pitiful mortal." Pinkie said in a frightening dragon voice. Surprisingly, she was able to do this without the help of special effects. "My name is Guildess, the fire-breathing dragon."

Melanie glanced over to one of her fantasy books. It depicted a red dragon on the cover. The one before her was pink, which was a little odd, but since it was still a dragon, frightened her all the same.

"I am a deadly dragon from the world of Middle-Equestria. Now listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. Failure to do so will result in the devouring of your soul, with your body as a chew toy!"

*Ponyville town square*

It was now daytime, sometime after school. Pinkie Pie and Spike were hiding in the bushes, giggling at the success of their mission while they watched Rainbow Dash and Melanie in the distance. They then stopped giggling so as to be able to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"You weren't at school." Rainbow Dash said in mock concern. "What have you been doing all day?"

"I overslept." she answered, still thinking about the event the other night. "Look, I need your help. I have to ask Axl out, but I don't know how to do it."

"Finally!" she thought to herself, then spoke. "All right, listen. He's over in the diner." As they were headed in that direction, she continued. "So what made you change your mind?"

"Last night, Guildess came down from Middle-Equestria and told me that if I didn't ask Axl out, that she'd devour my soul."

Rainbow Dash mentally smacked herself on the forehead. She didn't think Melanie would actually say that stuff out loud.

"Yeah, well, let's just keep this soul-sucking stuff to ourselves, okay?"

"Oh, yeah. After all, I wouldn't want to look crazy in front of everyone, right?"

"Yeah. Definitely. Anyway, there he is. Now just go in there and invite him."

"Okay, but I don't know what to say."

"Just say anything, Melanie. Say whatever's natural, the first thing that comes to your mind." She then thought about that, then changed her mind. "I mean the second thing that comes to your mind."

"...Nothing seems to be coming."

Rainbow Dash wanted to bang her head against the wall. Why did this have to be so difficult.

"Great Celestia, Melanie! It's a wonder I was even born."

"What?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Nothing." she quickly responded, nervously scratching the back of her head. She took a breath, calmed herself down, and decided to help her out. "Look. Tell him, um, destiny brought you two together." she mentally groaned at all the corny stuff she was saying, but it was too late now, so she continued. "Tell him that he is the most handsome colt you have ever seen in all of Equestria. Guys like having their ego stroked." She then noticed Melanie writing down something. "What the hay are you doing?"

"Writing this down. This is good stuff."

"Geez, of all the-Just go!"

"Oh, right."

And with that, Rainbow forced her into the diner. Once inside, she shut the door, and waited outside, looking through. Melanie just froze in place. Groaning, she came inside and pushed her closer to Axl's table, then hid behind a counter. Pinkie Pie and Spike rushed in and sat in an empty booth. The place was busy, so they blended in easier. Despite all the noise that consisted of eating and dancing, Melanie felt like she was in her own world. She gulped, took a deep breath, and slowly approached the table where Axl was residing.

She then froze again, ran to the counter, ordered a drink, drank it, and then was pushed back to the table by Rainbow Dash, who immediately went back into hiding. Melanie could feel her heart racing with every step she took. Finally, she had reached the table. Gulping once more, she decided to speak, frantically trying to remember what Dash had told her.

"Um, Axl? My density...has popped me to you."

Axl and his friends exchanged bewildered glances. Pinkie Pie and spiked chuckled at the wrong words coming out of her mouth. Rainbow Dash was now literally banging her head against the counter.

"What?" asked Axl, wondering what the hay she was talking about.

"Oh." Melanie replied, stammering a bit. "What I meant to say was..."

It then dawned on Axl. "Wait a minute. Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Yes." She replied, feeling glad to finally be noticed. "Yes. I'm Melanie. Melanie Dash. I'm your density. I mean, your destiny."

Axl looked confused for a moment, then smiled. "Wow..."

Suddenly, Tiff's loud voice brought her back to reality. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. Of all the times to show up...

"Hey, Dash!" she yelled from across the diner.

Melanie looked over her direction, then looked away. Tiff frowned, then spoke in a more stern voice.

"I thought I told you never to come in here." This caused Melanie to finally turn around. "Well, now it's gonna cost you. How many bits you got on you?"

"Um, well, how much do you want, Tiff?"

Melanie nervously backed away while Tiff steadily approached her. However, Rainbow Dash tripped her with her hoof, causing her to fall face first on the hard diner floor. Murmurs and chuckles could be heard from the various patrons. Furious, Tiff quickly got up, and stood over Rainbow Dash, once again using her size to loom over her. She glared with intense hatred in her eyes.

"All right, punk. " She readied for a head butt. "Now I'm gonna-"

"Whoa, whoa, Tiff." Rainbow Dash interrupted. "What's that?" she pointed behind him.

Not being very bright, she turned around. Using this distraction, Rainbow kicked her in the face with her hind legs as hard as she could, knocking her into the table where some random patrons were eating.

Knowing she would be at a disadvantage in such tight quarters, she quickly flew out of the diner. Tiff and her goons immediately gave chase. Pinkie Pie and Spike followed suit. Meanwhile, Axl just looked onward with a goofy smile on his face, no longer remembering the shy Pegasus in front of him.

"And that's why I want to end up being with her." with that, he quickly left the diner, leaving a sad Pegasus behind.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash took to the air while being chased by Tiff and her goons. She was surprisingly fast for someone her size. Fortunately, Dash was still faster. So she decided to slow her down by zigzagging through various carriages, trees, and even ponies. It worked, but she was relentless, and still gave chase. Eventually, they stopped chasing her, realizing they couldn't keep up with her speed. Instead, they strong-armed a Unicorn, and made inaudible threats to her. She then used her magic on them, which caused them to emit a pinkish glow.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in shock. She had recognized that spell. Twilight Sparkle used it once to enhance speed as part of an experiment. This is probably where she learned about it. Not wasting any more time, she quickly flew away. Unfortunately, Tiff's newfound speed allowed her to quickly catch up with her. Trying to lose her, she made a very quick right turn. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to slow her down.

Tiff finally caught up, and rammed her in the flank with a head butt, causing the rainbow Pegasus to crash into some nearby ponies. Tiff took the initiative, and scooped her up mid-flight at blinding speed. Unfortunately for the bully, Dash was able to squirm out of the grip, slipping on the ground now very much behind her opponents. More to Tiff's misfortune, she and her goons couldn't handle the spell, and was unable to make a U-turn right away. While still trying to do so, they instantly crashed into a cart loaded with manure. The pony that it belonged to frowned.

"Ya morons!" he shouted. "I was just on my way to dispose of that! Now I gotta big mess ta clean up! Stupid Pegasi."

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike cracked up at the sight. Satisfied with the results, they left the scene to lie low until Tiff got bored and left. Meanwhile, Tiff regained consciousness, looked at her surroundings, then screamed.

"Soon as I take a bath, I'm gonna think of a way to make you suffer long and hard for this! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'LL SUFFER PAINFULLY FOR THIS!"

Meanwhile again, on the other side of the street, the crowd was looking in amazement. In that crowd was Axl and his friends, with Melanie hiding behind the crowds.

"Where did she come from?" Axl's friend asked.

"And where does she live?" said the other.

"I don't know," said Axl with fierce determination, "but I'm gonna find out."

End of chapter 3.

A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm going to try to conclude this tale with chapter 4 sometime this week. You know, I always have trouble starting a chapter, but once I get the first two pages done, I practically have to stop myself :P.

Anyway, see you in the possibly final chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Well, here it is. I was able to submit it faster than I expected.

Buck to the Future

Chapter 4

*Ponyville*

It was now later in the afternoon. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike are back at their motel, planning their event during and after the night of the dance. They were also admiring a miniature model of Ponyville Pinkie Pie had made.

"So why did you make this again, Pinkie?" Rainbow asked. "It's not like you can take it with you."

"I know. I was bored, and thought of this. Neat, huh."

"Um, yeah. Anyway, do you remember what we have to do the night of the dance?"

"Yep. Get your parents to fall in love with each other, meet Princess Celestia outside of Ponyville, and get back to our own time. Oh, and before that, erase any traces of our existence here." she then remembered the model she had just created. "Oops. Silly me."

While they were talking, Spike was just sitting there, not saying a word. Just staring off into the distance. They noticed this, and approached him.

"Something wrong, Spike?" Rainbow Dash asked. She was very concerned.

"It's nothing. I'm just thinking about Twilight Sparkle. I can't stand the thought of returning to an empty home."

The two ponies sighed in depression. During this whole fiasco, they didn't stop to think about what to do about Twilight Sparkle. Suddenly, both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie spoke up at the same time.

"Ooh, I know!" they both said.

"No, you first." Pinkie said, politely gesturing her hoof.

"Well, I was gonna say that we could leave a note with Princess Celestia forewarning the danger Twilight is about to face. Being the powerful princess that she is, she can definitely prevent her death."

"Cool! That's exactly what I was gonna say!"

At this, Spikes eyes lit up.

"Really? So we're really gonna do it?"

"You bet." Rainbow Dash then cleared her throat. "Take a note, Spike."

"Sure thing!" he said excitedly as he produced a quill pen and paper.

"Ok, here we go. Dear Princess Celes-"

Suddenly, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Spike put the note and pen in the drawer, and quietly took a peek through the doors peephole. Well, he tried, but was too short. Instead, Pinkie Pie did it. She then quietly gasped at who it was.

"It's your dad!" she whispered urgently. "He's tracked you down!"

"Um, I can hear you." said Axl through the door. "What are you talking about?"

"Just a minuuute!" she answered in a sing-song voice. "Quick! Hide the evidence!"

"Evidence?"

"Just a little prank, that's all. Hehehehe!" Then she made a mad dash to cover everything up.

"Um, Pinkie?" Spike said. "All you have is a town model. It's not like we have the time machine here."

This caused her to stop in her tracks. "Oh yeah." she then turned her attention to the door. "Coming!" She opened the door, and Axl quietly came in.

"Um, hi." he waved towards Rainbow Dash, and greeted her with a warm smile.

"Um, hi." she answered, suddenly feeling ill. "So, how did you find me?"

"I followed you."

"You, what?!"

"Well, there was no way else I was able to talk to you. It's like every time I got the chance, you ran away. Almost like you were purposely avoiding me."

"Gee, what gave that idea?" her tone was sarcastic, but he didn't pick up on it.

"Well, no harm, no foul. Anyway, aren't you gonna introduce me to your friends?"

"I guess. This is Pinkie Pie, and this is Spike. I'm sure you've seen them in class."

The two just waved.

After a moment of awkward silence, Axl finally spoke up.

"Rainbow, this might seem a little weird, seeing as how it's Equestria custom for the filly's to ask the colts," he continued to say as he slowly approached her, "but I was kind of wondering if you'd maybe ask me to the Enchantment over the Sky dance on Saturday?"

She was expecting this, but it still shocked her nonetheless. Her face was as pale as a ghost. This is where she would outright tell him to get lost, but this was her father, and would feel very bad about being so mean to him, even if it was for his own good.

"Um, well, um," she stammered, unsure of how to say no, "well you see-wait. Nobody's asked you?"

"No."

"Stupid spineless wimp!" she thought to herself. "If she wasn't my future mother, I'd kick her flank for putting me in this awkward situation! In fact, I'm gonna go yell at her as soon as this is over!"

"Not yet." he hinted, now only a foot away from her.

She could feel nausea starting to surface. She looked towards her friends for help, who just sat there, clueless. She frowned at them, then turned back to Axl, trying to come up with something else to stall with.

"What about-what about Melanie?"

"Melanie Dash?" he asked quizzically.

Rainbow Dash nodded quickly.

"Oh...well, she is cute and all, just...not what I'm looking for in a filly." the distance between them was now none. "I've always been attracted to filly's with strong, but sweet characteristics. Somepony who is brave, loyal, confident, and all around good to others."

"Crap!" she thought, fighting back the urge to scream. "I'm all of those things!" Noticing she was now backed against a wall, she started to sweat. Her fight or flight instincts were kicking in big-time, and she had to do everything in her power to stop them from surfacing.

"Don't you?"

"...Yeah." she meekly answered, her heart rate dramatically increasing. No longer able to take the pressure, she blacked out.

*Later*

Rainbow Dash was quickly awoken to smelling salts, courtesy of Spike. She quickly jumped out of bed, and scanned her surroundings.

"Wha? What happened? Where's Axl? Did I reject him without hurting his feelings?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Actually, you did just the opposite. When you passed out, he asked me if that meant yes or no. I pretended not to know, so then he insisted on staying til you got up. Knowing that wouldn't be good for you, Spike quickly said it meant yes. So in other words, you'll be going to the dance with him on Saturday."

Upon hearing this, Rainbow Dash passed out again. Pinkie Shrugged.

"She didn't take that as well as I'd thought. But don't worry, Spike. I'm sure we'll come up with a brilliant plan by then!"

*Ponyville, a few days later*

It was now Saturday, and the dance was just several hours away. Pinkie Pie and Spike had already went over and rehearsed their plan with her, so now she is at Melanie's house, helping with laundry. She would normally avoid chores like the plague, but it was a good excuse to talk with her about the plan. As expected, Melanie didn't understand the plan right away.

"I still don't understand. How am I supposed to go to the dance with him, if he's already going with you?"

After cringing at that thought, Rainbow Dash responded. "Like I said, he wants to go with you. He just doesn't know it yet." After just saying that, she realized that it sounded really stupid, but too late to back out now. "That's why we gotta show him that you are a fighter. Somebody who can stand up for herself, and do what's right."

"Yeah, but I've never fought once in my life. When it came to fight or flight, I always chose flight."

Starting to get irritated again, Rainbow Dash took a couple of seconds to recollect herself before speaking again. "Look, you're not gonna be picking a fight. You'll be defending his honor. Now, let's go over the plan again, for the umpteenth time. At 8:55 tonight, where are you gonna be?"

"I'm gonna be at the dance."

"Right. And where am I gonna be?"

"You're gonna be at the parking lot with him."

Rainbow Dash smiled. She was finally getting it. "Good, so around 9pm, he's gonna get very angry with me."

"Why is he gonna get angry with you?"

"Duh! I already told you! I'm going to start acting like a jerk. Kind of like Tiff, only without the assault."

Melanie's eyes widened at the statement. "Oh! You mean you're gonna go touch him and-"

"-Don't finish that sentence!" after shaking off that image, she continued. "No, look. It's just an act, okay? So once again, try to envision the scene. It's 9:00, you're strolling through the parking lot. You see us arguing, possibly even fighting. You walk up, you point at me and you say, Hey! Leave him alone!"

"I-I'm not so sure about this. It doesn't seem like something I'd do in real life."

Dash rolled her eyes at this. "Of course it isn't, unfortunately. If it was, we wouldn't be doing this in the first place. Now stop complaining and focus. Anyway, I insult you, tell you to get lost, then shove you. You pretend to catch me off guard, and kick me in the stomach." she then leered at Melanie. "Not hard, either, or I'll have to return the favor later." she continued. "So I pretend to have the wind knocked out of me. I'm unconscious. Finally, you and Axl live happily ever after, or whatever passes off as happy."

"Well you make it sound so easy."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this. "Was that sarcasm?"

Melanie nodded.

"Hehe, good. You're getting the hang of it."

"I'm still scared, though."

"I understand, but there's no reason to be scared. All it takes is a little self-confidence. You know, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

*Ponyville motel*

It was now Saturday evening. The trio was now ready for the dance. However, before they departed, they decided to get one final errand out of the way.

"Spike," Rainbow Dash started, "take a note."

"Ready and waiting." Spike responded in excitement.

"Dear Princess Celestia, on the night that I go back in time, Twilight Sparkle will be..." she took a breath before continuing, trying to hold back tears. "...shot by Goblin terrorists. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this terrible disaster. Signed, your loyal subjects, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike. PS; enclosed is the time, day and location of where the events will take place. Again, thanks."

After finishing the letter, Spike was about to mail it in his usual fashion, but Rainbow Dash stopped him.

"Wait! Just before we leave, we'll give it to her personally. If she has time to think about the whole space-time stuff, she might decide against it. If it's already in her hooves, she'll have to wait until we return before debating on the issue."

Spike nodded at this. "Gotcha. I'll just put this in my bag and save it for later."

"Okay, then." After taking a deep breath, she continued. "Let's go."

And with that, they headed off to the dance.

*CloudsDale*

Upon arriving at the school, everyone took their places. Spike was in the dance hall to make sure Melanie didn't chicken out. Rainbow Dash was with Axl in the parking lot, much to her dismay. And Pinkie Pie was hiding behind some carriages, watching the events with binoculars, all the while eating popcorn. Now that they were in the middle of the parking lot, Dash spoke.

"Uh, hold on a second."

"What's wrong?" Axl asked. "Is everything alright?"

Rainbow was getting really nervous. She felt her knees shake. She took a breath, then started talking again. "Hehe, yeah. Just fine. Could we just... talk for awhile?"

"Well, sure." He then inched closer to her. "What's up?"

Naturally, this is where she'd back up or push him away, but now that she's this far, she has to through with the act. Unfortunately for her, he noticed her shaking.

"Rainbow? You look nervous. Is something wrong?"

She gulped. "N-no. Of course not." she looked around for signs of Melanie showing up, but she's nowhere to be seen, and it's already past 9. "Where the hay are you?" she said to herself.

*Dance floor*

Meanwhile, Melanie was just hanging by the table, drinking some punch. Spike was at the nearby wall reading a comic book. He then glanced at the time, and jumped.

"Yikes! I lost track of time!" he quickly scanned the area to see if Melanie had left. Unfortunately, she was still there. "Oh man! Rainbow Dash is gonna kill me!" he quickly ran over to Melanie, and tapped her on the leg. After she looked at him, he pointed at the wall clock. "Hey! Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

After looking at the clock, she gasped. "Oh no! I completely spaced out! Sorry!"

"Yeah yeah. Just go."

So they both ran to the parking lot. Spike was planning to join Pinkie Pie in her hiding place so he can watch the events unfold.

*Parking lot*

Back at the parking lot, Pinkie Pie was watching in anticipation, finishing off her popcorn. Rainbow Dash and Axl continued to stare at each other in awkward silence. Finally, Axl decided to take the initiative.

"Rainbow?" he started. "Why are you so nervous?"

It took a few seconds for to unfreeze, but she finally spoke. "Um, Axl, have you ever, um, been in a situation where you knew you had to act a certain way, but when you got there, you didn't know if you could go through with it?"

At this, Axl smiled. "Ah, you mean like how you're supposed to act on a first date?"

Rainbow chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her mane. "Well, something like that."

"Well, I think I know exactly what you mean."

She looked at him quizzically. "Y-you do?"

He nods. "You know what I'd do in that kind of situation?"

"...what?" she didn't like where this was going.

"I just put it in the back of my mind, and go with the flow."

Suddenly, and completely catching her off guard, he kisses her straight on the lips. Upon experiencing this, she mentally screams, her body automatically froze, unable to act. After a couple seconds, he breaks the kiss, a bewildered look on his face. He begins to speak, all the while looking at Rainbow Dash's horrified, frozen expression.

"Something's not right." he started. "I can't really explain it without sounding all weird, but when I kissed you, it's like I'm kissing...my sister."

Rainbow Dash broke from her freeze long enough to nod in agreement.

"I guess that doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"...Believe me. It makes perfect sense." Suddenly, all her senses came back, and she felt a flood of bile start to surface from her throat. She held it back long enough to speak. "E-Excuse me. I'll be right back."

Leaving Axl with a confused look on his face, she flies towards the bathroom's at lightning speed. Pinkie looked in her direction, then spoke to herself.

"Wow. That was sure intense."

Suddenly, Spike rushed to the spot Pinkie was at.

"Melanie's almost here." he said as he was catching her breath. "I had to run very fast in order to get here ahead of her." He then looked at where Axl was standing. "Hey, that's not Rainbow Dash!"

Pinkie Pie quickly looked, then gasped. Where Rainbow Dash used to be standing, was Tiff, looking awfully drunk. She was staring at Axl, and speaking some inaudible words that the two couldn't hear from the distance they were at. Suddenly, Tiff kicked Axl in the gut, causing him to fall over. She then picked him up while he was trying to recover, and brought him behind a carriage, away from prying eyes.

"Oh no!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We have to do something!"

"But what?" Spike asked. "If we interfere, you might be the one he falls in love with next."

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened. "You're right! I wouldn't want to become Rainbow Dash's mother, even though I would probably be a very fun mom to her. Speaking of, I wonder what Dash would look like with Earth pony and Pegasus DNA. There's quite an infinite number of possibilities..."

Spike shook his head. Pinkie Pie was far too easy to distract. Looking onward, he gulped nervously. It was up to him to stop Tiff and save Axl. However, he had absolutely no chance of winning. Still, it wouldn't be right to just hide here like a coward. Suddenly, as he was about to make a mad towards the carriage, he saw Melanie, who looked around, saw some movement towards said carriage, and ran over there herself. He also saw Rainbow Dash flying back, looking better than when she initially did. Spike sighed in relief.

"Oh thank Celestia." He said, exhaling. "With Rainbow Dash there, he'll be saved in no time."

Suddenly, Tiff's goons came out from their hiding places, and tackled Rainbow Dash, holding her in place. They took some rope, and began tying her to a carriage. Spike fell to his knees, raising his voice to the sky.

"Why?! Why me?!" he then looked in Melanie's direction, who was now confronting a very annoyed looking Tiff. "Well, maybe she'll actually stand a chance." He then watched as she loomed over Melanie, once again showing off her size. "Well, hopefully?" He then winced as Melanie tried to kick her, only to have her foreleg grabbed and twisted. As he watched her wince in pain, he sighed. "Thanks a lot, Celestia." Taking a breath, he made a dash towards Tiff, and lunged at her, baring his teeth.

Unfortunately for him, she dodged, not once loosening her grip on Melanie. Spike hit the carriage face-first, and was out for the count. Tiff looked at him, shrugged, then focused her attention back on Melanie. She then twisted her foreleg even further, grinning at her further yelps of pain. Seconds later, Axl recovered from the many strikes Tiff gave him in order to keep him submitted. She saw Melanie in danger, and with what little strength he had left, tackled Tiff, forcing her to let go and fall a couple feet away. She then turned her attention towards him.

"Funny. I thought you didn't have any strength left. Oh well." she then kicked him in the stomach, causing him to wince in pain. "You know, I'd rather you be conscious during what I'm about to do to you. Hey, I'd rather you be willing. but if you want to experience pain first so badly, well, I'm happy to oblige." she then kicked him again. "Although if you don't mind, could you please refrain from passing out so quickly? It shortens the fun."

While she was gloating and kicking, she forgot the fact that Melanie was still standing. Seeing the love of her life in such a damaged state, something awoken from within her. She grit her teeth, backed up a few paces, got into a charging stance, scraped the clouds from under her a couple times, then charged full force at a speed that would rival even Rainbow Dash's. Tiff heard the hoof steps, and turned to investigate. However, Melanie was so fast, that she was already in front of her, and was already in the process of kicking Tiff with both her hind legs. Unable to react fast enough, she took the damage full force. Melanie's anger and adrenaline also caused her strength to temporarily increase, resulting in Tiff flying towards the adjacent carriage, and getting hit in the back of the head. The force of Melanie's hind legs, combined with the trauma of the carriage behind her, caused Tiff to instantly lose consciousness.

While trying to struggle from her binds, Dash cheered, then looked at the goons surrounding her.

"You see that?" she said proudly. "That's what happens to bullies. At the state she's in, she'll probably take her aggression out on you guys. So if you're smarter than you look..."

Without another word, the goons quickly fled the scene. Rainbow Dash then groaned in annoyance.

"They could have at least untied me first."

While she waited for either Spike to regain consciousness, or Pinkie Pie to stop rambling to herself, both of which could take awhile, she decided to watch Axl and Melanie. She couldn't really hear what they were saying, but she watched Melanie help Axl up. They smiled at each other. Then, she motioned over to the dance hall, and they both left. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. Finally, progression was being made, and they were heading to the dance. As they were walking away, a small crowd began to form around her, making comments at what just happened.

"Who was that?" One Pegasus asked.

"That's Melanie Dash." Another answered.

"That's Melanie Dash?"

"I know, right?"

Rainbow Dash could feel her hooves getting transparent again. In panic she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"COULD SOMEPONY PLEASE UNTIE ME?!"

Suddenly, a black furred Pegasus with a blue mane appeared. He shook his head at the sight, and untied her. The minute he did so, she flew off at lightning speed in order to get another injection from Pinkie Pie.

"You're welcome!" he exclaimed sarcastically, then winced in pain. "Stupid pony! I think she sprung my wing with that dash."

While Pinkie Pie was still rambling about pony DNA, Rainbow quickly searched through her bag for the bottle, and drank it, not wanting to get injected again. After a couple of seconds, she was back to normal. Then, with all the speed she could muster, grabbed Pinkie Pie, grabbed Spike, and rushed into the dance hall.

*Dance hall*

Inside, people were chatting as usual, Spike regained consciousness, and Pinkie Pie stopped rambling. While they were waiting for the performers, one of them entered the stage. This one also had black fur with a blue mane.

"Excuse me." he announced. "Due to one of our guitarists spraining his wing, we'll be unable to perform tonight's musical numbers."

As the crowds began to murmur, Rainbow Dash flew on stage. She wasn't about to let this all be for nothing.

"Hold up!" she exclaimed. "This day is extremely important to me! Isn't there anything you can do?"

"Well," he said, "unless you know somepony else who can play the guitar..."

At this Rainbow Dash grinned. "I'll do ya one better..."

Minutes later, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were on the stage. Rainbow Dash had a guitar around her, and was using her wing, pic attached, to play a slow song. Pinkie Pie was playing the piano because, you know, she can play many instruments. Spike was playing the saxophone, because he could play while looking good doing it. The announcer, quite surprised at such a convenient placement of talent, shrugged. Whatever completed tonight's performance without a hitch was alright by him. He walked over to the mic stand, and made another announcement.

"This is for all you lovers out there."

As the group continued to play, Rainbow Dash scanned the dance floor. She was hoping to spot Melanie and Axl, and she was really hoping Melanie didn't chicken out. She sighed in relief as she saw the two of them dancing.

Suddenly, some random female Pegasus cuts in front of the two, dancing with Axl instead. While he was trying to explain that he already had a dance partner, she was dancing away. Melanie just stood there and did nothing. Then, as if on cue, Rainbow Dash felt a sharp pain in her chest, causing her to fall to her knees.

"Are you okay?" Pinkie asked.

She shook her head, then tried to stand up. She could feel it. If those two didn't kiss soon, she would disappear forever, and no amount of magic would be able to bring her back. Meanwhile, Axl moved away from the female Pegasus, but she grabbed his arm, and muttered that if Melanie really did have a problem with them dancing, she would've said so right away. He then titled his head in confusion as she did have a point. Back on the stage, Rainbow Dash fell to her knees again. This time, she was completely transparent. She could feel her existence slowly ebbing away. Cursing one final insult towards Melanie, she saved the rest of her strength to hold out as long as possible.

Suddenly, Melanie shook her head, then marched over to the female Pegasus.

"Excuse us." she said as she shoved the mare aside. "That's my date you're dancing with." she then turned towards Axl, who was smiling at the sudden personality change.

"Wow." he said. "Color me impressed. If you were this assertive from the beginni-" he was then cut off by Melanie's soft voice.

"No more talking." she said. "I've wasted enough time wondering about the what-ifs."

Then, after staring into each other's eyes, the two kissed. Back on stage, Rainbow Dash could feel a fresh breath of life course through her veins. She quickly stood up, catching her breath as if she had been holding her breath for a long time. She also scanned her own body, and noticed that the transparency was completely gone. Then she looked at the dance floor, and saw that Axl and Melanie had just broke their first kiss. Chuckling in relief, she continued playing. Melanie gave a quick wave to Rainbow Dash, who immediately waved back, gave a rising hoof, and resumed playing. When the song was over, the announcer approached her.

"That was really good." he said. "Let's do one more."

"Nah, that's okay. I've really gotta be somewhere."

"Come on, man. Let's do something that really rocks."

She glanced at the time. There was enough time for at least one more song. As the crowd cheered her on, Pinkie Pie gave her the ol' puppy dog eyes. She was enjoying herself, and wanted to play another song. Sighing in defeat, she gave in.

"All right. All right. I'll do it."

As she was about to speak, Pinkie Pie rushed to the mic stand.

"Hey everypony! This next song we'll be playing is an oldie-well, an oldie to me anyways. "

Rainbow Dash and Spike looked at her in confusion.

"Just follow my lead. You'll recognize the song instantly." She then realized something. "Wait a minute! This next song will require drums and a singer." she then instantly produced a wearable drum set, and a portable mic. "That's better."

The announcer looked at her strangely, then looked at Rainbow Dash, who just shrugged.

"Okay, everypony! Get ready for Johnny B. Hoof!"

The minute Rainbow Dash and Spike heard the title, they immediately began playing. They weren't sure how Pinkie knew this song, but since Dash was a bit of a rock connoisseur, she knew how to play it. Spike also knew because he would sometimes assist Rainbow with the songs, usually in exchange for love songs to sing to Rarity, which he never got around to singing. So when the song started playing, the crowd listened a bit, then started dancing. Pinkie Pie was also singing, as usual.

Deep down in Equestria close to Ponyville,  
>Way back up in the woods known as the EverFree...<br>There stood an old cabin with straw on the roof,  
>Where lived a country colt name of Johnny B. Hoof...<br>He never ever learned to read or write so well,  
>But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell.<p>

Go Go

Go Johnny Go Go

Go Johnny B. Hoof

As the song continued playing, the Pegasus whose wing was sprained by Rainbow Dash was on the phone.

"Chuck! Chuck, it's Marv...your cousin, Marvin BlueBerry? You know that new sound you were looking for? Well, listen to this!" he then used his wing to put the phone in front of the speakers, allowing the other pony to listen to the sound.

Back on stage, the crowd was really enjoying themselves. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie saw the opportunity to make her own moves. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who quickly shook her head, immediately knowing what was going through her mind. Ignoring her, she did it anyways. She started dancing randomly, twirling and doing air kicks while playing. Then suddenly, she produced a guitar out of nowhere, dropped the drums, and began playing wildly, no longer going with the lyrics. Then while still playing, started dragging herself on the floor, then jumped up, kicked over a speaker, played even wilder, then slid across the stage. Catching her breath, she took a look at the crowd, who just stared dumbfounded. She looked at Spike, who had a raised brow, and then at Rainbow Dash, who just had her hoof covering her face.

Pinkie laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her mane. "Well, I guess you ponies aren't ready for that yet. But your filly's are gonna love it."

Not wanting to be embarrassed even further, Rainbow Dash grabbed Pinkie Pie and Spike, and dragged them backstage. They had to be going anyways. However, just before reaching the exit, they were encountered by Melanie and Axl.

"Axl?" Rainbow inquired.

"Rainbow, that music was, interesting, to say the least."

"Uh, yeah."

"Told ya they'd like it." Pinkie chimed in.

"Anyway," Axl continued, "I hope you don't mind, but Melanie asked if she could take me home. My injuries are still bugging me, and after what happened..."

"Oh yeah! Definitely!" she quickly said, not wanting to relive that moment. She then grinned. "I had a good feeling about you two."

"Thanks. So do I."

After nodding, she continued. "Listen, I gotta go, uh, take care of some business, but, uh, I wanted to tell ya that this moment has been...educational, to say the least."

"Rainbow, will we ever see you again?"

After grinning, she answered. "I guarantee it."

Afterwards, Melanie spoke up.

"Well, Rainbow, I want to thank you for all your help. I'll always cherish it."

"That's good to hear." Not sure of what to say next, she started to back away. "Well, good luck in the future and all that." As the three were walking to the exit, she stopped and turned around. "Oh. One other thing. If you ponies ever have filly's, and one of them, when she's 8 years old, accidentally crashes through the roof, go easy on her."

"...Okaay..." they both answered, obviously puzzled by the statement.

After that, the trio immediately rush off.

Axl was looking at the door, pondering intently. "Rainbow. Such a nice name."

*Outside of Ponyville*

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia had been waiting on the outskirts of Ponyville. She had their time machine ready, as well as a new crystal placed inside.

"Where are those three?" she wondered aloud. "They're already late."

Seconds later, something that could only be described as a flash of light immediately headed towards her. Stopping quite precisely, was Rainbow Dash, who was holding Pinkie Pie and Spike on her back.

"Sorry we're late, princess." she panted. "We ran into some trouble."

"So how did it go?"

"Great! Melanie pulled through. In one swift kick, bam! Tiff was out for the count! I never knew she had it in her. She never once stood up to Tiff in her life."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Never, you say?"

"No. Why? What's the matter?"

She decided to say something, but decided against it.

"It's nothing. Anyway, let's set your destination time."

The four walked over to the time machine. Rainbow Dash, with the help of Spike, fastened herself onto the front of the carriage. Pinkie Pie hopped on the back, and set the coordinates.

"All set!" Pinkie confirmed. "Well be at the exact time we left."

"Wait!" Rainbow Dash quickly said. "I almost forgot! Spike! The letter."

Spike got off the time machine, handed the letter to Celestia, then hopped back on. Celestia stared at the letter.

"What's this?" she asked.

"You'll find out in 30 years." Rainbow Dash answered.

"It's about the future, isn't it?"

Dash said nothing. Celestia frowned.

"Have you learned nothing about the consequences to messing up the space-time continuum? I can't read this. It might alter the future in ways none of us can even imagine."

"Trust me, Princess Celestia. That's a risk you're gonna have to take. Believe me when I say someone's life depends on it."

"Regardless, as a guardian of Equestria, I cannot take that risk." she then uses her magic to make the letter vanish.

Rainbow Dash gasped, then shook her head. "In that case, I'll tell you straight out!"

Princess Celestia sighed. "No, you won't."

Her horn then glowed a rainbow color, and shot it at Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, her legs started moving on their own.

"What they hay? What's happening to me?!"

"It's a spell that will force you to start running as fast as you can. When you reach your own time, the spell will vanish."

Tears started to form in the rainbow Pegasus' eyes as she tried to fight the spell. "But Princess, I-"

"It's alright." Celestia assured. "Your intentions are noble, and for that, I am proud of you. Now trust 'me' when I say that things will work out in the end. Now go, and good luck."

No longer able to fight the spell, Rainbow Dash sped off into the horizon as fast as her legs could take her. As they were going faster, she yelled at Spike.

"Spike! Change the destination! Set the course to 10 minutes before the time! We should be able to save Twilight before then!"

"Right away!" Spike said as he quickly set the time for ten minutes before.

Within seconds, the machine reached the required speed, and within mere seconds, they were instantly transported back into their own time.

*Outside Ponyville. Present day*

As soon as they reached their time, Princess Celestia's spell had worn off, just as she said. Pinkie Pie looked around.

"Did we make it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We did." Pinkie answered. "However..."

"...Okay, now what?"

"We may have made a slight miscalculation on where Twilight was running her test."

Sure enough, Twilight Sparkle, nor anything else for that matter, was anywhere in sight.

"Crap! She could be on any edge of the forest!" She then readied herself to start running again. "We'll just have to find her as quickly as possible."

*Later*

Unfortunately for the trio, they had found the exact location just a second too late, as they were treated to Twilights gruesome death a second time. Rainbow Dash fell to her knees, devastated. She had failed. After all that work, she had failed, all because of a slight miscalculation.

"Why couldn't Celestia just have read that letter?" she muttered.

"Hey! That's us!" Pinkie pointed out.

Watching the same scene happen from a different angle, they witnessed secondhand themselves getting away from the goblins via time travel. What they didn't get to see, however, were the goblins crashing into the EverFree forest. As they tried to recover, a large tentacle grabbed the vehicle they were in, and pulled them into the forest.

"And that's why no one should ever go into that forest." Pinkie stated.

After they were sure the danger passed, the trio rushed over to Twilight's body. Upon turning her over, however, they noticed there was no blood.

"What the..." they started to say, then jumped in surprise as Twilight Sparkle rose to her hooves, relatively unharmed. When they noticed she was alright, they all rushed in to hug her.

"Twilight!" Spike said. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

"Me too!" Rainbow added. "I thought I had failed you as a friend!"

"I just like hugging!" Pinkie cried out in tears.

After breaking the hug, an immediate question came to their mind.

"So tell me." Dash started to say. "How did you manage to survive a barrage of bullets?"

"A simple barrier spell." she answered nonchalantly. "Well, not simple, really. It had to be thin enough to where the goblins couldn't see it, yet thick enough to where it wouldn't pierce my skin. Then there was the calculating of playing dead at just the right moment, as well as staying-"

"Okay, I get it! Sheesh! Always the one to go on a tangent!" then she hugged her again. "Don't ever change."

"But wait." Spike said. "We saw Princess Celestia make the letter-" he stopped as he saw Twilight produce an old looking letter.

"Princess Celestia had me read this the night before, so I had time to prepare."

"What?!" Dash exclaimed. "Then what about all the crap about screwing up future events?"

"I asked her that same question, to which she answered, what the hay."

Rainbow Dash chuckled at this. Good ol' Celestia.

"Well, I'm sure you three had a long long day, so let's all clean this mess up and go home."

So after taking a couple of hours to clean up the mess and park the time machine in Twilight Sparkle's home, everyone went home.

*CloudsDale*

It was now morning. Rainbow Dash decided to visit her parents to see how things have changed. Much to her surprise, their home looked clean, and the carriage that was once a wreck, completely replaced by a newer, better model. Seeing this, she rushed to the door, and knocked several times. When it opened, she jumped in surprise to see that her parents, whom answered the door, looked kind of different. They looked vibrant. Happier.

"Mom? Dad? What happened to you? Look two look great!"

"Um, thanks?" Axl said. "Are you the one that's alright?"

Realizing that everything has changed for the better, decided not to ask any more questions. "Nah, I'm fine. Just glad to see you all."

"I'm glad to see you too." Melanie said. "By the way, Fluttershy called. She was wondering if you two were still going to Ponyville today."

"She is such a sweet mare, Rainbow." Axl added. "You really should start to take your relationship to the next level."

Rainbow Dash smacked herself on the forehead. She now regretted telling them to go easy on her regarding the roof. Instead she should've told them to stop assuming her sexuality.

"Will you stop with the assumptions, dad? Geez!"

Axl and Melanie both laughed.

"Your father's just teasing you, dear. We know you've been seeing that one Wonderbolt pony. Pretty handsome colt, that one is."

"Wait, what?"

Before she could further press the matter, she heard a familiar voice from the driveway.

"The carriage is waxed!"

Investigating the source of the voice, to her surprise was a much older Tiff. Rather than crashing the carriage, she was waxing it.

"Now Tiff," Melanie started saying, "I want to make sure we get two coats of wax this time, not just one."

"I'm just finishing up the second coat now."

Melanie raised an eyebrow. "Now, Tiff, don't con me."

Tiff smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her mane. "I'm-I'm sorry, Mrs. Dash. I meant I was just starting on the second coat."

Melanie giggled. "Ah, Tiff. What a character."

After closing the door, all Rainbow Dash could do was just gape in shock. Messing with time really did a number on her mother's character, especially after just seeing her mother lecture her former bully. Tiff then rushed past her, who was still gaping, holding a package.

"Mrs. Dash!" she exclaimed. "It just arrived!" she then backed up and closed Rainbow's gaping mouth. "Oh, hi, Rainbow." then rushed on over to Melanie. "I think it's your new book."

They quickly opened it, and pulled out Melanie's first published fantasy novel. Rainbow Dash looked over at it, and smiled at the fact that her confidence went to the point of even conquering her fear of rejection.

"It's like I've always said." Melanie said. "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

Rainbow Dash chuckled at the advice that was handed down, remembering the time that she said it to her. Melanie looked at the wall clock.

"Rainbow. You should probably go. I'm sure Fluttershy is waiting for you at her cottage."

"Oh, right. Anyways, see ya later. Again, happy to see you!"

After kissing each of them on the forehead, she flew to the cottage as fast as she could.

*Fluttershy's cottage*

As soon as she reached the destination, Rainbow Dash tackled Fluttershy, and hugged her tight.

"Fluttershy! So glad to see you."

"Um, yes. Glad to see you too." She then loosened herself from her friends grip. "But why are you so glad? You act like you haven't seen me in a long time."

"I haven't."

She then raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling alright? I have some medicine if you'd like."

Remembering that this must all seem strange to her, Rainbow Dash laughed nervously, her hoof behind her head.

"Oh yeah. Everything is great. It's complicated, though."

"Complicated?"

Just as she said that, a familiar noise broke the tension. She turned around. Sure enough, it was the time machine. Only this time, it looked different. Instead of having a pony pulling it, it had four wheels, an engine, a roof, and four doors. It then slowed down, and stopped next to the two. The door opened, and out came Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. The first thing The Unicorn did was rush over to the rainbow Pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed, as if in peril. "You've got to come back with me!"

Rainbow Dash was very puzzled. "Where?"

"Back to the future."

As she said this, Pinkie Pie and Spike were rustling through Fluttershy's garbage cans, pulling out various items, and then putting it inside the time machines engine.

"Um, what are they doing?"

"We need fuel."

After putting in the various garbage, they rushed inside.

"Go ahead. Quick!" Twilight said to Rainbow. "Get in the car...yeah, that's what I call it now."

Rainbow Dash just shook her head. "Hold on, I just got here, okay?! Besides, Fluttershy's standing right here!"

Twilight shrugged. "Well, bring her along. This concerns her too."

"Wait a minute, Twilight. What are you talking about? What happens to us in the future? Do we become complete jerks or something?"

"No, of course not. Both you and Fluttershy turn out fine. It's your filly's that need help."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "And here I thought only my dad insinuated that!"

Twilight Sparkle tilted her head in confusion, then widened her eyes upon realization. "Ohh. You mean-no, of course not. I'm so sorry for giving you the wrong idea. You see-never mind! I'll explain on the way."

So after shoving Fluttershy in the backseat with Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash enter the front seat, with Spike in the middle, being small enough to fit there. As she started up the car, Dash then noticed the lack of road space.

"Hey, Twilight, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to the right speed."

"Roads?" Spike answered. "Where we're going," he then put on some sunglasses, "we don't need roads."

Twilight rolled her eyes. He's been doing that ever since she bought him those. As she started the car, Rainbow looked around in disbelief as she felt the vehicle take off in the air. It was a car. That flew. And traveled in time. And didn't need ponies. This was definitely a future she needed to check out. And so, after reaching a certain height, the car flew at a fast speed, and then, into the future.

The End?

A/N: Sorry the chapter was so long. Like I said, I wanted to finish this. I also left a question mark at the end because, who knows? Maybe in another few years I might make a sequel. Or not. Who knows :P? Anyway, thank you all for reading, and thank you for favoriting. Please send a review. Or not. I'm just glad to have finished it after such a long time :P.


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